This has been a big year for FareCompare, but we couldn’t have done it without you. You took advantage of our Free Airfare Email Alerts, discovered how good they are, and spread the word.

And I like to think we helped you in turn, by finding you the best of the cheap airfare sales, day-in and day-out.

But let me tell you how we’ve grown over the year (and this will include stories about our Top 10 Lists, ABC’s “20/20″ show, some weird myth-busting, and even Playboy).

Maybe you’ve already seen my Top 10 “worst” list. Now for the good news: I actually found enough good things for a BEST list.

Think you’ll enjoy this. Just click “more” to see the entire list.

And if you think I’ve left anything out, please, tell me in the comments section.

You’ve probably been reading about this in the news: there is the potential for “chaos” as one British paper put it, if an airport workers 48-hour strike goes into effect on January 17 (and there may be 2-shorter work stoppages leading up to this).

If no agreement is reached with the union, the 48-hour walkout could hit Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports.

Check the BAA’s site (this company owns 7-UK airports) for details.

Interesting tidbit from the Washington Post about airline ticket & trip insurance, and a good reminder for us all.

It tells the story of a vacationing family that had to flee a hurricane, only to find out that the trip insurance they thoughtfully took out, didn’t cover their losses.

Read the fine print, everyone. And I’m reminding myself, as well.

I think I’m going to make this an annual tradition: say good-bye to the old year with a list of the best and worst in commercial aviation over the past 12-months.

You’ve heard of some of these incidents, but others are obscure or just downright funny.

I’ll give you my “worst” list now, since most of us say, “give me the bad news first.”

Click “more” for a fun read, and add your own ideas in the comments section.

As 2007 winds down, I thought it might be fun to do a little experimentation with our new “Best Time to Buy” database that will be rolling out early in 2008 and take a look at the price of travel on official U.S. Holidays.

Certainly extra long weekends invite many to checkout airline ticket prices and as always I am intrigued to find which departure and destination cities are the best overall for travelers, so putting on the “Geek” cap on this morning I put together a ranking I would like to share…

It appears that the trend for “all business class” airlines is on the way out.

The year-old Maxjet filed for bankruptcy on Christmas Eve; and now the UK’s TimesOnLine is reporting that “Virgin has quietly dropped a plan to launch an exclusive transatlantic service for businessmen. BA’s rival project is understood to have stalled.”

Maxjet is blaming “economic turmoil” which includes high jet fuel prices. Meantime, the airline is scrambling to help get their passengers on Eos, which is a “First Class only” airline.

Last Thursday night, December 20, 2007, United Airlines increased the bulk of the airfares on its domestic route system by $5 each-way ($10 roundtrip).

In turn over the weekend, each of the major legacy airlines has matched the United Airlines attempted increase — the time line for matching is shown below:

Best to you, from everyone at FareCompare…and Happy New Year, too!

Saw this thought-provoking article in the Buffalo News; it was written by a young woman asking that military personnel get bigger discounts on airfare.

The author focused on her own fiance (stationed in the U.S); she said, he gets just a day or so notice for leave, and receives only a 5 to 10% discount off his last minute fare (which we all know is still very expensive).

She says, we ask a lot of the military; we “boldly ask them to not only lay down their lives, but also their wallets.”

I did a quick and highly unscientific search and found United has some good deals for the military and American says it “may offer Military Fares in some markets.”

Readers? Airline execs? Please send me your comments.

Air Canada has some super cheap airline ticket deals in April to Rome.

I just posted some examples in our new FareCompare.com Air Travel Deals Blog — we will be highlighting many more of these special published deals as they happen on this new blog — a few sample deals are shown below…

In yesterday evenings 8:00pm EST domestic airfare distribution the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant airfare increase activity by United Airlines.

Last night, amidst a wave of airfare sales for travel in early 2008 and a variety of expiring holiday airfare sales, United Airlines increased airfares on the majority of their domestic route system by adding an additional $5 one-way to its airfare fuel surcharge.

Grumpy Santa’s whirlwind trip is just about over, and he took some time out to create a “naughty and nice” list. An unusual one.

Check it out here; he talks about fine dining (and truly terrible chow) and who had the best planes, and flight attendants, and…well, see for yourself!

The Philippines is considering allowing more low-cost carriers into Clark Airport (they call this “pocket open skies” as it would benefit just that airport).

According to an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (a leading newspaper there), this would be a boon for overseas Filipino workers who could travel back home more often.

It could also mean more tourists dollars pumped into the local economy, since they would spend less for airfare.

While obviously this is small example of changes in the wind — I expect to have many more posts in the near future on the U.S./European “Open Skies” kicking in next March, and what it will mean for all of us.

The conventional wisdom is, if you’re running for office these days, you cannot depend on commercial aviation. The schedules just don’t mesh with the candidates’ schedules (well, obviously they don’t have me and FareCompare plotting their moves, as we did for Grumpy Santa’s marathon flight-fest).

So, the presidential contenders use private jets. That’s expensive. And it just got a lot more expensive, as you’ll see if you click “more.”

Being Travel Agent-in-Chief for Grumpy Santa’s Excellent Adventure has kept me incredibly busy—too busy, I’m afraid to answer much of my mail.

But I promise, I’ll start getting to more and more of your letters in my “Ask Rick” feature, starting this weekend.

I really enjoy your letters. You readers ask the best questions!

If you haven’t already, take advantage of our Email Alerts; a sweet and simple way to get the cheapest fares first.

And now, it’s all part of My Trips, which offers much, much more; you can read all about it here, but know that this simple (and fun!) service lets you be choosy (find a specific fare, fly your favorite airline, opt for Coach or First Class). Check out the My Trips section on FareCompare. And sign up—it’ll make your vacation planning incredibly easy, and save you big bucks—we promise.

And, speaking of First Class, check out this section, where we show you how to fly First Class, at Coach prices (yes it can be done!).

Each and every day, airfare changes are made. Sometime, it’s in the tens of thousands. Sometimes, it’s hundreds of thousands a day.

And here at FareCompare, we track them all. A single “research mode query” (your question about a particular fare) hits over 10-computers during this process, but gets you your information in about 2-seconds! That’s how we get you word of the cheap airfare sales first!

We also have over 3-billion “historical” airfares to help you can make the best buying decisions.

Put it all together, with our Email Alerts. You simply sign in, and get the best deals, first.

A couple of weeks ago most of the day at Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport with a crew and producer from 20/20 chatting about a variety of travel myths.

The premise was myths in the form of a true/false quiz (they posted on their site early last week with the answers from the interview now).

We also posted a page on the site with further explanation on the air travel myths topics.

The video for the segment is posted (click more to the right) and take a look at our new “First Class Airline Ticket” blog for more details on discounted first class airfare…

Grumpy Santa had quite a day in the Big Apple…well, for a couple of hours anyway (not time for much sightseeing, not when you’re in the midst of a marathon “48-states in 12-days” trip).

But he did get a chance to kick up his heels.

And, he learned that dining in New York City can sometimes be a little pricey.

(Santa, that’s why you should look for savings in other areas, like airfare, by signing up for FareCompare’s Email Alerts-they really save you money!)

Anyway, enjoy another classic rant!

I think our Grumpy Santa is catching on. Take a look at this story on MSNBC; they’ve got a Santa at the airport (though I can’t vouch for his “grumpiness”).

But here’s a Santa who clearly is grumpy…see him on JibJab. Still, he’s only an animated Santa. We’ve got a “live” one!

Yes, the REAL Grumpy Santa belongs to FareCompare…and you can see him, on video, in all his glory right here.

And our Santa got all his tickets at great prices. Want to do the same? Check out our Email Alerts. You won’t be sorry! Or, grumpy, either.

I was just reviewing the 8:00pm EST domestic airfare distribution and noticed Continental Airlines had a slew of $10 roundtrip increases.

I’ll have to dig more into it in the morning to check to see if they filed some new/different fuel surcharge.

If they are only increasing holiday airfares this is probably a non-event, but if it is wider spread i’ll let everyone know.

First of all, you have to see this priceless video of Grumpy Santa in the snow. Turns out this is one Jolly Old Elf who hates the stuff!

Or maybe it’s just because he’s been temporarily grounded; read all about his adventures in Boston, and his trip on the train right here.

And don’t forget to enter our contest: if you correctly answer the question, “How Much Did Santa’s AirFare Cost?” you win a free round-trip flight.

And you’re always a winner, when you sign up for FareCompare’s free Email Alerts; that’s how you learn about the cheapest airfare before anyone else. Promise.

Mark Ashley, one my favorite bloggers and sites, Upgrade: Travel Better, has joined in on the Grumpy Santa fun.

And, he provides an answer to a provocative question: what does Grumpy Santa have in common with Richard Nixon?

On our own Santa site, we have lots more video; check out Santa and the Joker, and see the singing flight attendant!

Oh, and one last thing: curious to know where Grumpy Santa stands on hash-brown potatoes?

The folks over at ABC News interviewed me a couple of weeks ago for a “20/20″ segment on travel.

Their focus is “travel myths” and I gave them a lot of fun (and practical) information about that.In the meantime, they’ve devised a quiz based on our conversation.

You can try it for yourself by clicking here.

I expect the “FareCompare faithful” will do very well.

But if you get stuck for an answer, no problem; just watch this week’s edition of “20/20″ on Friday, Dec. 14, featuring yours truly.