Nervous about booking a vacation in these turbulent times? One airline gets it. JetBlue is making an impressive promise to customers: If you book a flight on JetBlue and then subsequently lose your job, the airline promises to refund your airfare in full. JetBlue's fares are normally nonrefundable.

How the JetBlue Promise Program works: Customers who book flights between now and June 1, 2009 and lose their job must notify JetBlue and request a full refund at least 14 days prior to the date of travel. The customer who purchased the flight and is listed as a traveler on the itinerary can request a refund for up to nine customers traveling on one reservation.

This is just one more reason for families to love JetBlue. We've always had a massive crush on those individual seatback TVs.

Last month we wrote about a phenomenal deal at Restaurant.com. You could purchase a $25 gift certificate at a participating restaurant for just $5. No sooner had that deal ended than the next deal landed, with those $25 restaurant gift certificates selling for just $4 each. If you missed out on those opportunities, fret not. Now Restaurant.com has put an even more unbelievable deal on the table: buy a $25 gift certificate by 8:59PM EST (11:59PM PST) on Thursday, February 19, you'll only pay $3. It may be the easiest $22 you'll save on a meal with the click of a mouse.

We love that Restaurant.com includes a good selection of eateries from all over—not just big cities, though they are well represented, too. Naturally, this is a great opportunity to grab a cheap meal out in your own hometown. (These coupons make great teachers' gifts, too.) But think ahead, also, to your future travel plans so you can save on a meal at a nice restaurant in your next destination. To take advantage of the $3 offer, use the promo code PREZ at checkout and hit the "apply" button.

It may still be brrrrrisk and wintry in Milwaukee, but the Hilton Milwaukee City Center hotel is offering a family package that promises to thaw your chilled bones. The  Frosty Flick Promotion includes admission to Paradise Landing, the hotel's 20,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, which features four three-story waterslides and a special section for toddlers and preschoolers. Best of all, the temperature is always a downright balmy 84 degrees.

The package starts at $129 a night plus 14.60% ($19) in taxes and includes : 

• Your accommodations 
• Up to five passes to Paradise Landing, good from 2pm on your arrival day until noon the next day. Since day passes normally cost $18 per person, this element alone is worth $36 per person—or $180 for a family of five.
• One in-room movie 
• 25 game tokens for arcade inside Paradise Landing

Today is all about stellar hotel deals. Wyndham is kicking off a 72-hour sale that delivers savings of up to 40% off hotel stays at a dozen Wyndham properties—six in the US and six in Mexico. The sale ends at 6pm CST on Saturday, February 14. Travel periods and blackout dates vary. For some properties travel must conclude before March 31 or April 30; for others, the travel period extends until the end of the year.

Some highlights include:

• Wyndham Canoa Ranch Resort in Green Valley, AZ: Rates from $84 a night for a standard room with two queen beds; $114 for a premium suite. (40% below regular rates.) Travel by December 31.
  
• Wyndham Garden Hotel in New York City: Rates from $129 a night, with a two-night minimum. (30% below regular rates.) Travel by March 31.
  
• Grand Mayan Riviera Maya in Riviera Maya, Mexico: Rates from $130 a night. (30% below regular rates.) Travel by December 17.
  
• Wyndham Cozumel Resort & Spa in Cozumel, Mexico: From $39 per person per night, all-inclusive, with a three-night minimum. (40% below regular rates.) Travel February 23 to December 23. 

Shopping around for a cheap spring break getaway? There are a few sites that every bargain hunter should have on his or her hit list. While we've written about Hotwire's Travel Ticker before, we think it's worth calling attention once again to its "Hotels Under a Hundred" page, which consistently delivers an excellent, well-vetted compilation of lodging priced at under $100 a night, ranging from city boutique hotels to condo-style properties to all-inclusive beach resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. Here are two current steals in the US that look particularly good for families:

Mike Ditka's Runaway Beach Club in Orlando, FL: Midweek rates from $59 for a one-bedroom villa, $89 for a unit with two bedrooms. What we like: The spacious units offer families plenty of room in which to spread out, not to mention a full kitchen, flatscreen TV, and washer/dryer (score!). The zero-entry pool is super-safe for little ones, and there's a complimentary shuttle to Disney World. Travel through April 30.

Catamaran Resort and Spa in San Diego, CA: Rooms are going for just $99 a night—that's up to 55% off regular rates. Plus, guests get discounts to some of San Diego's top attractions. What we like: For this price, we're impressed with the level of comfort and array of resort facilities and activities, including a spa, biking, and kayaking. This is a great location in Mission Bay's Aquatic Park, just 3.5 miles from SeaWorld. Travel through May 22.

As Rick Seaney, CEO of the fare-hunting site FareCompare.com, points out, "Airline fees are a fact of life." True enough. When shopping for an airfare, realize that nobody pays the advertised airfare. It's merely the base price before taxes and miscellaneous fees are heaped on.

Still, not all airline fees are created equal, and those differences can make a big difference to your bottom line. Seaney's handy domestic airline fee chart makes for extremely interesting comparison shopping. It is a rather grim confirmation of what we already knew: gouging has become depressingly commonplace in the airline business. Most airlines are now charging $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second. Reserving by phone can tack as much as $35 on to your ticket price. Having an oversized or overweight bag can mean getting whacked with hundreds of dollars extra. Want to change your non-refundable ticket? You're looking at a penalty of as much as $150. Though it's not listed on the chart, opting for a paper ticket instead of an e-ticket can also ratchet up your final tally.

Mr. Seaney's chart is a cheat sheet for air travel's heroes and villains. The white hat clearly belongs to Southwest, which not only offers the most free services (first and second checked bags, phone reservations, unaccompanied minors, curbside check-in, and non-refundable ticket change) but where it does impose a fee, the amount is often significantly lower than that of the competition. To a lesser extent, JetBlue, Virgin America, and ExpressJet also have consumer-friendly fee structures.

When faced with identical or nearly identical airfares on the same route, factor in fees and then choose wisely. If your family will be traveling with several pieces of checked luggage, for example, the difference in what you will actually spend can be big.

WeJustGotBack.com turns 3 years old this month! To mark the occasion, we’re thrilled to be giving away a 7-night stay for a family of four at a Club Med all-inclusive family resort. One lucky winner will get to bring his or her family to Club Med Ixtapa Pacific (see our review), Club Med Cancún Yucatán (see our review), Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, or Club Med Sandpiper in Port St. Lucie, Florida (see our review).

You can enter once a day until February 28, and increase your chances of winning by referring your friends. Click the image to enter!

We've said repeatedly that you can often get a better hotel deal simply by asking for it—nicely, of course. (See step 4 in Score a Cheaper Hotel Room and no. 3 in our 20 Recession Travel Rules.)

An article in today's USA Today highlights how freely hotels are giving away upgrades these days, in a climate when so many hotel rooms remain empty. What caught our attention were the statistics that show just how badly the hotel industry is hurting. 

U.S. hotels are expected to fill just 57.2% of hotel rooms this year—almost 6% fewer than last year, says Robert Mandelbaum, research director at PKF Hospitality Research. It would be the lowest level in 20 years, he says.

While a 6% drop in one year sounds big, consider that many of these hotels were enjoying 95% occupancy only three or four years ago. What this means for travelers, of course, is that we have more leverage than ever. So smile. Be polite. And do ask for that upgrade. 

Kicking yourself for missing out on Southwest's "Wanna Get Away?" sale, which ended a few days ago? You may have the last laugh. The airline has followed up with a four-day blowout called "Get Away Any Day." Once again, you can again nab fares as low as $49 to $99 each way. The good news: This time around, those lowest fares aren't limited to Tuesday or Wednesday flights. As the promo name implies, the best prices are snaggable any day of the week.

We did some price-checking and found significant savings on many routes. Here are some sample OW fares, flying on Friday in mid-February: 

• Cleveland-Orlando from $99 (normally $315)
• Seattle-Denver from $97 (normally $266)
• Chicago-Phoenix  from $95 (normally $350)
• Providence, RI-West Palm Beach, FL for $89 (normally $303)
• Los Angeles-Dallas from $99 (normally $351)

Book by January 26 and travel through March 11. Minimum 14-day advance purchase.

We recently wrote about a phenomenal deal at Restaurant.com that let you purchase a $25 gift certificate at a participating restaurant for just $5. It was like getting handed a $20 bill. We told you. We told our friends. We told our friends to tell their friends. Deals like this don't roll around too often, we said. But (yay!) we were wrong.

Now Restaurant.com has put an even more unbelievable deal on the table. If you buy a $25 gift certificate by 3pm EST on Monday, January 19, you'll only pay $4. That's a quick $21 saved with the click of a mouse.

What's great about Restaurant.com is that it includes a good selection of eateries from all over—not just big cities, though they are well represented, too. This is a great opportunity to grab a cheap meal out in your own hometown. (These coupons make great teachers' gifts, too.) But think ahead, also, to your future travel plans so you can save on a meal at a nice restaurant (or two! or five!) in your next destination. To take advantage of the $4 offer, use the promo code EXCLUSIVE at checkout and hit the "apply" button.