Ten Worst Air Travel Stories of '08

8. FAA Inspection Snafu: How Americans got pounded and grounded.

Talk about embarrassing. More than 2,000 American Airlines flights were cancelled over the course of a few days this spring, when the FAA came down on them, hard, for allegedly failing to comply with certain inspections. Yes, safety first, always, but still, couldn't somebody have planned this a little better?

Don't Forget: This action left tens of thousands of passengers with no place to go.

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9. Heathrow's Big Bag Disaster: How to lose a lot of luggage.

British Airways was so proud of its brand new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. And then, some bags were misplaced. About 20,000 of them.

Don't Forget: At least this was one comedy that didn't occur on U.S. soil.

10. Defying Gravity: Airfare goes up. And up. And up.

There were 22 separate attempts to raise airfares this past year. The vast majority were quite successful, and that pretty much says it all.

Don't Forget: It could have been worse -- every attempt could have been successful.

OK, I'm done venting. But, did you know the airlines actually accomplished some pretty wonderful things this year? Yes, they did, and I'm going to tell you all about that … next week.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Rick Seaney is one of the country's leading experts on airfare, giving interviews and analysis to news organizations, including ABC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Associated Press and Bloomberg. His Web site FareCompare.com offers consumers free, new-generation software, combined with expert insider tips to find the best airline ticket deal.