We asked readers to share their travel tales of woe. Some repsonded that travel is wonderful and — in so many words – we should all quit griping. Other told of sad, bad days in the air. Here, a few choice snippets. Join the conversation with the good the bad and the ugly–throw in a few travel tips, too.

From Gloria Gardner: “I’ve never slept in an airpot and I’ve never missed a connection. Lucky, yes, but also prepared.” Gardner books nonstops, uses a travel agent, checks her reservation at least several days before traveling and smiles rather than screams. “It makes things less stressful for me and the people around me if I’m pleasant.”

From Terry Srp: “I had a lousy flying experience that showed me how a good crew can make a bad experience tolerable. I became suddenly ill on a flight and the care I was given by the attendats and medical people who were on the same flight was incredible. ”

From Bethany Pearson: “I saw the blip about wanting travel horror stories from readers and boy, do I have a few.” She then proceeded to detail three, including the time a European airline went out of business. “It was the Venice to Paris [leg of our trip] that was horrific…On our morning of departure, we got up and took the water shuttle to the airport at 5:00 am….We looked at the flight status board to find our flight into, but nothing was there. No mention of the flight or the airline. We asked at information, ‘where can we find Volare airlines?’ It seems they went out of business about a month earlier. ‘It was on the news,’ we were told–in Italy, but not the U.S.!”

 From Mark Heywood: “I fly about 40,000 miles a year all on the same airline so I’m considered an ‘elite’ customer. Last winter I took my wife and six employees and their spouses to San Francisco for a convention…Iupgraded the wife and I to first class using miles…On the way back, our flight was canceled and the airline sent the seven couples on seven different ways back to MSP. The airline refused to honor my already redeemed miles for first class and sent us back to MSP in separate middle row seats. To add insult to injury, all my employees were back in MSP long before me. We got in at 10:30 p.m. and had a three hour drive to get home. So the loyal frequent flyer got kicked out of first class and got home at 2 a.m. and his employees all got to MSP before him. No wonder people hate to fly.”

While travel demand is down just about everywhere else, the nation’s capital is booming for the inauguration of Barack Obama Jan. 20. More than 1.5 million people are expected on the Mall at noon on the 20th to witness the historic transfer of power.

The hotels that aren’t sold out are racking up the rates: Expect to pay at least $400 a night if you can find a room, and count on a 4-day to one-week minimum stay. “I got a room for $500 a night, with a four night minimum,” said Charles Wilkinson, a law professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder who was a confident Obama backer. “And I booked it last March.” If you haven’t already started looking, head to www.washington.org or call the visitors bureau at 1-800-422-8644. Other options including flying into nearby cities (Richmond, Va., is one viable option) and driving on the day of the big event.

The Web site Trustypony.com is on its second of eight days of give-aways (think free cool blankets and magnetized car games). The maven behind trustypony is Berit Thorkelson,who often writes for Travel about cool travel gadgets, and she is clearing her test pad of products (manufacturers are onboard with the freebies). It’s all to celebrate the site’s new comment capability. Check it out and you could wind up the proud owner of a neat travel product.

Is there a silver lining to the economic downturn? People lucky enough to have the money to fly this season might think so, but then they might be duped. True, fewer people are flying this year. AAA today predicted a decline in the number of people traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday, the first decline since 2002. “Nearly 4.54 million plan to travel by airplane, a 7.2 percent decrease from the 4.89 million travelers who flew last year,” their press release reads. But airlines, in an effort to keep making money, have collectively cut the number of seats by 9 percent from last year. Travelers may be able to move through the airport more quickly, but planes will be just as full if not more so. That means anyone who has been bumped or missed a connection could have a difficult time  finding a seat on the next plane out.

Just like at airports, congestion in the air will be down, too. That’s thanks to President Bush opening up military airspace for commercial aircraft. Last year, two lanes were open on the East Coast. This year, the freeingup of airspace includes the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast.

Check Travel for tips on smooth flying this holiday season. A story on the subject is coming up Sunday, November 23.

While the cost of jet fuel has been dropping for weeks, airfares have not yet followed suit; the airlines are holding onto their fuel surcharges for the time being. Here’s a link to a timely NPR story. Meanwhile, other sorts of surcharges continue to multiply. Several airlines upped their fees for flying pets and unaccompanied children. George Hobica at Airfare Watchdog has the story. 

I’ve been watching the struggles of Sun Country from afar this fall and wondering if the airline will survive. Losing Sun Country would be a shame for many reasons, including healthy competition for Delta. But I would miss its service and comfort most of all. Amid an increasingly cramped and grungy mode of transport, Sun Country managed to provide relatively comfortable, competent and cheerful service (for which it was recognized as among the best in the nation for the third time in October.) Here in Boulder, I’m watching the similar struggles of Frontier, another small airline that’s been losing money. Like Sun Country, Frontier is banking on the busy winter vacation season to provide a cushion — and some profits.

For consumers, the question is when do you give up your loyalty for security? What if you book your vacation to Mexico for February, and the airline goes under at the end of January? Consumers who buy their tickets with credit cards typically are protected from the loss of the cost of the tickets, but booking a new flight on short notice could be prohibitively expensive. I’m planning a trip to theYucatan for the second week in April, and I’m really torn. The cheapest fares and direct flights are on Frontier. But April is just past the winter travel peak; the airline is going to go kabluey, it will likely happen as winter sales tail off. I haven’t made up my mind. If you’re planning a winter getaway, what are you going to do?