I do my price searches through Kayak, but buy through the airline.
Don’t like to deal with a middle man.
Don’t like to deal with a middle man.
As far as I know, you don't have a choice with Kayak. Kayak is a travel search engine, not a middle man. What I mean is, Kayak won't book your flight, but it will hand you off to another site that will. The airline in question is among the handoff choices, along with the likes of Expedia or Orbitz or Travelocity. Usually, Kayak's handoff is successful. But sometimes it drops you in a confusing zoo.
The last several trips I made, I used Kayak to research the available flights and fares. But I skipped their handoff service. Instead, I booked through American Express (paying with accumulated points), relying on the Kayak data for assurance that Amex was offering a reasonable deal.