It started small last month, if you consider stranding 900 people on the wrong end of the planet "small." That's when the airline Zoom, which made regular transatlantic runs to North America, zonked out unexpectedly.

The sudden death of airlines creates a ripple effect. Last week, another 2,500 English travelers were left high and dry in the Mediterranean when Seguro, a vacation packager, raised the white flag. You see, the Spanish flyer Futura suddenly folded, leaving the vacation packager that used its flights holding the bag.

The next day, Britain's third-largest vacation seller, XL, gave up the ghost, halting its self-run flights and stranding an astounding 85,000 people abroad. That's a lot of sunburned Brits pounding the counters at tropical airports. Some 10,000 of them, who booked their flights without packages, were not covered by the bond and had to pay more money to get back home. Another 200,000 people with advance reservations were also wondering where their down payments had gone.

Many of the victims of these collapses thought they were covered because they used their credit cards to buy their trips. That's just not the case.

A U.S. Department of Transportation report shows that more consumers are complaining about their air travel experiences. Although delays, cancellations, and lost bags decreased in November, complaints are up over 37% from last year.

The report shows:

• Overall, 80% of airplanes arrive on-time. This is better than last year's 76.5% on-time rate.
• Airlines canceled 1% of scheduled flights.
• 4.89 fliers per 1,000 report mishandled (lost or destroyed) baggage, down from 6.32 per 1,000 last year.
  

The three airlines with the worst on-time arrival rates were United, American, and Atlantic Southeast. Those with the best on-time record were Hawaiian, Aloha, and Delta.

The airlines also submit data that explains the delays and cancellations, often citing weather problems or aviation system delays. I question how accurate those statistics are, based upon my experience as a traveler. How many times have you been on a flight that was delayed, supposedly due to weather, but you later found out the skies were sunny on both ends?