I only pose the question because there are so many Zagat categories you can win in.

For example, one Virgin airline or another took top honors in five categories (fine with me, I like them) and JetBlue took two “firsts” (also terrific) and Southwest won three awards.

Conspicuous by their absence in this cornucopia of blue ribbonry was Delta, United, US Airways.

Yep, the (sort of) little guys do it again. Hey, thanks, Jaunted!

Whew, dodged a bullet there.

No, we do NOT have the best airport in the world – that distinction was won by Singapore’s Changi (Singapore wins everything).

But on the bright side, we weren’t worst, either: thank goodness for Heathrow. Although personally, I’ve never had a problem there.

Rounding out the top “worst” five: Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, Los Angeles (LAX), Frankfurt International in Germany, and Miami.

This public service is brought to you by USA Today, which reported on a survey by the airport lounge program, Priority Pass.

That Dave.

In his Top Ten list the other night, he talked about the “Highlights of Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York”.

Number 2 on the list:

“Bought makeup from Bloomingdale’s to update her ’slutty flight attendant’ look.” –David Letterman, June 8, 2009

Like flight attendants aren’t dealing with enough everyday insults.

Our friends at Gadling score again with a look at overlooked cities – you know, if you’ve only got time for one city, you go to Tokyo, not Osaka. But this report celebrates the charms of Osaka – and other “second” cities.

I can see their choice for Ireland – yes, obviously you go to Dublin – but don’t miss Galway. Good call – it’s a fun and charming city.

Wellington, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia? I can see that too. But Chicago as the alternative to New York and LA? Sure it’s a great city, but – why not San Francisco? Or Boston? I’d rather go there – but, hey, it’s all so personal.

Take a look at their list – I like Barcelona in the Spain section – see what you like, and don’t like.

Actually, it was 50-years ago yesterday since the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, 22, the Big Bopper, 28, and Richie Valens, 17 (plus the poor pilot who nobody remembers – for the record, he was 21 year old Roger Peterson).

All of which was memorialized by Don McLean in “American Pie”.

Which reminds me: Blender magazine has a list of the 10 worst rock & roll plane crashes – see it here.

Such a waste – or, as Blender put it: “What is it about famous musicians that makes them believe it’d be a swell idea to charter a small, unreliable aircraft through inclement weather?“

I dunno, but we still miss you, Buddy. All you guys.

Looking for a dirty hotel? Okay, looking to read about a dirty hotel? You, my friend, have come to the right place.

TripAdvisor has the list – and boy, is it a horror show.

I won’t keep you in suspense: the winner (based on TripAdvisor reviews) is the Hotel Carter in New York City, which garnered such comments as this gem from a guest who clearly knows her wildlife.

“Roaches, rats, mice, horrible smells, dirty sheets, horrifying bathrooms, outlets that hang out of walls… Just to name a few, but the worst part about it was that at 4am I woke up to a bunch of guys breaking into our hotel room while we were sleeping!!” -Jasmine, on the Hotel Carter

Funny, the hotel’s website mentions nothing about hot-and-cold running rodents. But in the future, Jasmine, here’s a tip: any New York City hotel that advertises rooms for $110 a night, just might be a wee bit on the skanky side.

Mobil has just announced its “Annual Star Awards” for 2009.

As you know, 5-stars is best.

So what state can boast the most 5-star hotels? Well, as the Governor would say, Cal-ee-four-knee-uh.

See the listings for all the states, along with restaurants and even spas – right here.

First, I must wipe up all the Diet Coke that splattered out my nose and onto my keyboard.

Done.

Second, allow me to thank Mike Barish at gadling.com for the funniest stuff I’ve seen in ages (well, at least since I last checked The Superficial).

Nah, this is funnier. You see, Barish has a feature called SkyMall Monday — and this week, he’s rounded up the creme de la creme — the best of SkyMall Monday.

Do read this.

It features products targeted to specific customers — just pray you’re not one of them. Among the amazingly bizarre items is, a Hair Flair Visor — a Cruzin Cooler — a Noseaid — and some sort of potentially lethal looking neck thingie.

You probably never heard of Transparency International (I hadn’t), and that’s a pity because their mission is to fight corruption around the globe – and there is way too much of that in this uneasy world of ours.

The organization recently came out with their annual rankings of nations – in terms of corruption (and thanks, Gadling, for the heads-up).

Corruption is defined by Transparency as, “the misuse of entrusted power for private gain.”

These countries – out of a total of 165 — topped the list as “least corrupt” (and note the emphasis on Scandinavia):

• Denmark
• Sweden
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Finland

Looks like Norway fell down on the job this year – they only made it to #14 – the U.S. meanwhile made a very respectable showing at #18 (better than France, mon amis).

Last place: Somalia. No surprise, as most of the countries at the end of the list are unbearably poor.

Are you a sinner? You are, according to my boss, if you remove your shoes and socks on a plane and have the bathing habits of a crazed wolverine.

Don’t believe me? Check out his column for ABCNews.com.

Oh, and be sure and read about “Snuggle Bunny” and “Bean Burrito” and “Bin-man” and all the other guys that make flying such a pleasure these days.

Wait, did I mention the “Texting Twit”?

“Lavatory Lizard”?

“Yellular”?

Radar Online has a new and improved list of places you don’t ever wanna see.

And I thought this list would be hard to top. I humbly stand corrected.

Radar’s list includes diseased petting zoos, brain-damaging midway rides and a hotel in Virginia Beach that Radar says “has plenty of availability since it won traveladvisor.com’s distinction as the dirtiest hotel in the United States‘.”

Oh, and don’t miss the section on cruises, where you can take your pick of “rampant food poisoning” or capture by Somali pirates.

Well, these 10 vacation destinations are not exactly IN hell but I guess you could say these hot spots (ha) are hell-ish.

Included in the list: Papua New Guinea (dissed because of disease), North Korea (for their interesting ideas on good governance), and Yakutsk, Russia (where temperatures often drop to minus-58F). I saw the list in this Reuter’s article, so don’t yell at me, I didn’t make this up.

Did the U.S. make the list? You betcha! Oklahoma City is #5.

I’ll let you guess why (HINT: funnel-shaped windiness).

Again — I didn’t choose any of these. Chill.

For shame! But it’s not too late to save money…IF you buy your tickets before Nov. 7. That’s assuming you want to fly in on the Wednesday before. If you want to get there Tuesday, well, YOU do the math. I’m no rocket scientist.

And, if you want a good read, go to the boss’ blog, RickSeany.com; he’s got a great post called, the “Top 5 List for Turkey Day Procrastinators”. Read it. Learn from it. You don’t want your Mom mad at you for missing Thanksgiving, do you?