Among airlines, Southwest has been famous for keeping its fares relatively low by using fuel hedging. Its accountants have kept the airline profitable by safeguarding itself against market volatility. It locked in low prices for a significant portion of its fuel needs, so when the price of oil jumped, the carrier was sitting pretty. The tactic meant the airline posted its 69th straight quarter of profit even in the throes of the summer gas-price crisis. Meanwhile, bungling airlines like United got in the hedging game near the peak of the market, and paid the price.

By the end of 2008, Southwest was paying a bit of a price, too, as the value of its original hedges declined and it had to come up with $247 million to pay for them. On balance, that's nothing compared to what it saved over the past few years -- $4 billion worth. But that's what happens when you gamble with hedging -- you take risks. And it looks like Southwest isn't interested in taking quite so many risks with its precious cash going forward.

The airline is easing up on the hedging game. Last summer, as much as 75% of its fuel was hedged. But between 2009 and 2013, only 10% of its fuel will be so. As long as fuel prices are spiking and plummeting, it's too tricky for an airline to anticipate the sweet spot when it comes to the ideal hedge price. The sweet spot keeps moving around.

Some industry observers think that the airline's reluctance to keep up with the practice means that we're in for dramatic volatility in fuel prices in 2009. Does Southwest know something we don't?

After touching down at San Francisco International Airport after the holidays, I didn't feel so guilty about flying as I had in the past. Or actually, because of optimism for a New Year, reduced gas prices and a third of the seats on my flight staying empty, I didn't even give a thought about feeling guilty.

However, I was landing in San Francisco, one of the most eco-conscious places in America, and the city intends to do its part in making everyone passing through its borders aware of their carbon footprint. Not only is San Francisco the first U.S. city to consider a "congestion pricing plan" for motorists driving its streets, it will also be the first city in the world to let travelers buy certified carbon offsets in its airport.

Flying to my mom-in-law's for Christmas, I was able to get a whole can of Coke when the flight attendants rolled the beverage cart my way. Flying back after New Year's, I was only able to get a cup -- and ice cubes took up most of the space. And to me, that sums up the direction airline service in 2009: a downward spiral.

You'd think gas prices going downward would mean fuel surcharges decline too. Think again.

And now more airlines are planning to go down the '"menu pricing" route for everything related to flying on their planes.

Americans aren't guzzling gas like they used to, even though prices have dropped below $2 a gallon and are well below what they were last summer and a year ago.

While the drop may be simply tied to the poor economy, a recent Gallup poll found that 52% of Americans are driving less even though gas prices are now about 45% lower than they were a year ago, according to a Marketwatch story.

The lower the income, the more likely people were to drive less. Gallup found that consumers earning less than $75,000 a year were most likely to consolidate trips and drive less overall, mainly because gasoline eats up a larger percentage of their incomes. Of those who made less than $30,000 a year, 69% said they changed their habits and 68% of those in the $30,000 to $74,000 annual income range. For families making $75,000 or more, 56% said they changed their habits.

When you graph the stock market's recent lifespan, it's a pretty steep drop. A plunge like that is a little too stomach-churning for some people. But look at that downward slope another way. If it were on a mountain, it would be an exciting black diamond ski run.

Vermont knows how to make the most of a steep drop. In an effort to drag tourists away from their financial statements and back into its tourist industry, more than a dozen ski resorts and facilities in the state are teaming up to give away free skiing or snowboarding lessons over eight days.

Between January 4 and 11, members of the Vermont Ski Areas Association are setting aside time to teach novices the basics and, hopefully, convert some new devotees. To get a free lesson, all you have to do is book your slot online ahead of time (it's first-come, first-served, so no dawdling) and pick the resort where you'd like to learn.

Generally, participants can be as young as 6, but a few locations have minimum ages of 8 or 13. The only thing that's asked of you is that you're truly a beginner. (If you're just really, really bad at skiing, I'm sure they wouldn't mind that, either, because it's always hilarious to watch newbies snowplow down the bunny slope and tumble off their first chair lift dismount. Bring the kids and a camera.)

January, it turns out, is National Learn a Snowsport Month. (Pause to spit out your hot chocolate and laugh.) So Vermont's ski slopes aren't the only places where a new recruit can wax his skis for the first time. A group called the Snowsports Industries of America is mounting a day of lessons, too. This event, which will dole out free snowshoeing and cross country skiing tutorials, falls on January 10, and it's going on in 19 states. Go to the group's Winter Trails event website to book your slots for that giveaway.

Maybe it's the beaches, waves and relaxing atmosphere of the Caribbean. Or maybe the fact that workers are paid so little they don't strain themselves.

Whatever the reason, the U.S. Virgin Islands are the safest place for workers in the United States or any of its territories, according to recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have relatively low incidence rates of what the federal government agency calls "nonfatal occupational injury and illness." The incidence rate was 2.1 per 100 full-time workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands and 4.0 in Puerto Rico -- compared to a 4.4 rate in the United States. In other words, workers have twice the incidents of injuries or illnesses in the United States as they do in the Virgin Islands, or USVI, as some call it.

In 2008, the airlines told us what they think of us, and they rolled out various extra fees designed to bleed us. Baggage fees. Change fees. Water that costs $2. "We'll haul your body around," the airlines told me, "but you're going to pay extra for every other thing you want from us."

Fine. I'm buying a service. I get that. But the take-me-for-what-I'm-worth game can play both ways. Now, like millions of other Americans, I'm going to devise ways to reverse the relationship and to take the airlines for whatever I can. That means I'm going to wring value out of every last frequent flier mile I have. I want pay as little for airfare as I can. Preferably, that's nothing.

As if on cue, the Wall Street Journal has run the numbers, and it finds that the best value for those miles isn't in using them to buy your seat, but to upgrade a seat you've already purchased. It puts it this way: When you use miles to get a coach seat, you're getting about 1.2¢ per mile if you divide the dollar cost of that ticket by the number of miles you have to use.

But when you use your miles to upgrade from coach to business or first class (the paper uses a New York-San Diego ticket as an example), each mile buys about 5¢. And that was calculated including a $100 redemption fee of the sort that airlines are increasingly tossing onto the bill.

One of the principal charges levied against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign was that she was clueless. But, although it may pain some people to acknowledge it, Alaska's economy was just saved from losing at least $4 million thanks to her quick advocacy.

Japan Airlines shuttles about 20 aircraft to Alaska each winter, each packed with 350 tourists eager to glimpse the Northern Lights. But this season, budget cutbacks at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection division prompted the government to deny the airline its landing rights. There weren't enough agents to meet the planes.

Palin, though, petitioned the Department of Homeland Security to reverse the decision, pointing out the flight stoppage would cost Fairbanks' economy at least $4 million, and the rest of the state even more, in lost revenue from the Japanese sightseers. The DHS relented, and the flights are back on.

The whole affair points up a major blind spot in our government's economic stimulus goals. Tourism is a win-win industry for America. It pours money into our economy. It employs a sector of our society that is more vulnerable to economic shifts. It boosts our image abroad. It costs very little in resources, as well. After all, the Grand Canyon and the Big Easy are open every day, anyway.

Tourism delivers huge boxes of cash, practically gift-wrapped, and you'd think that America's leaders would be a little more wise to its benefits and advocate increasing it wherever possible.

The recession may be hurting many retailers this holiday season, but the malls, restaurants and restaurants in Tucson, Ariz., are busy with Mexican shoppers pouring across the border to buy more products at lower prices that they couldn't' find at home.

Even with devaluation of the Mexican peso against the dollar, and having to spend a few hours in traffic to cross the border into the United States, the deals are worth it to the Mexican shoppers, according to a story in the New York Times.

"We can find everything we want and it's much cheaper," Aurelia Peralta told the Times. Peralta, 38, traveled to Tucson from Hermosillo, a city of 700,000 about 200 miles south of Tucson. She said that popular Christmas gifts cost twice as much in Hermosillo.

For Americans looking to turn the tables, deals have often been found in Mexico on medicine and drugs that don't need a prescription, along with dentistry, some surgeries. But be wary, bringing illegal drugs back, such as steroids, can lead to legal trouble, as it did for Jose Canseco. Last summer, when gas prices were high, Americans were driving across the border for cheaper gas.

Right around Christmas time I start dreaming about next summer's vacation, but I'm not one for fancy accommodations and corny travel guides. I enjoy learning about the places I visit in depth, and traveling with like-minded and curious folk. One program that many of my friends have found suits the bill is the Elderhostel.

The Boston-based not-for-profit organization was created over thirty years ago to encourage lifelong learning for adults, and learning is at the core of its many programs. Last year, of the 8,000 programs offered, 140,000 people took part in U.S.-based tours, while 24,000 joined tours outside the country. Because the organization is designed for adults 55 and over (hence the name Elderhostel), participants are likely to find a high degree of compatibility with those sharing their trip.

Examples of the wide-ranging Elderhostel tours include

• A week aboard a sailboat in Mobile Bay, exploring the delta region and its history
• Three days exploring a newly opened cave in Arizona
• Winter in Yellowstone Park
• A train trip through Mexico's Copper Canyon
• Journey through Arabia: sailing the Arabian and Red Seas

The price of Elderhostel programs ranges from inexpensive to moderate. The word 'hostel' in the organization's name is a bit misleading, as it is not part of the hosteling world; participants stay in conventional lodging such as hotels, rather than hostels.

If you like to travel and like to learn, but don't care to pay for fancy baubles and obsequious service, you might take a look at the Elderhostel offerings. Dreaming of summer is a great way to overcome the winter blahs.

Ever arrive at your holiday vacation destination only to discover you've forgotten to pack your swim trunks, medicines or cocktail olives? Nothing annoys me more than to have to spend the first hour of my trip buying a duplicate item to one I already own back home. The web site Don't Forget Your Toothbrush offers tools to help you pack what you need, when you need it. Kind of like a mother, except it won't sew your name into your underwear.

The free service begins by asking some basic questions; where you are bound, where, and the purpose for your trip; recreation, business, beach, winter sports, for example. It then generates a checklist of tasks you'll need to carry out in preparation for the trip. For example, if I were spending my holidays in Majorca, I might need to

• Check passport
• Buy travel insurance
• Arrange for inoculations
• Book airport travel service
• Book car rental
• Arrange a house sitter
• Book a kennel

The full list is comprehensive, and broken down by how far in advance each task should be accomplished.

DFYT also generates a packing list from which I can choose those items essential to my happiness and well-being. The list runs to hundreds of items, including many that I disdain to carry, and for which I am forced to eat humble pie when I ask my wife for. Her purse is a bottomless vault of incidentals that saves our trips at least once a day.

Sadly, I won't be visiting Majorca, or anywhere warm, this winter. Instead, I'm staying toasty by reminding myself that my dollars went for the bonuses of Wall Street execs, who are suffering out the holidays in noble silence on the beaches of the Caribbean.

The New York Times ran a collection of stories from recent airline travelers who complain that they've been losing valuables out of their carry-on bags. The problem isn't so much with checked bags, but with gate-checked ones, which are the bags the airline asks to take off your hands at the gate, and then returns to you at the gate of your arrival city. Gate-checking almost always happens because of space constraints.

The airplane may not be big enough for much more than a coat or a purse (Delta Connection's small planes are notorious for this--gate-checked bags are "pink-tagged" on those), or the flight is too booked.

One guy told the Times about losing a video camera (plus all the footage of a ceremony honoring his son). Another lost a small GPS unit. A third said that he even lost a few dimes that he used as golf tees. The passengers had these things as they passed through security, and up until the moment they boarded the plane. But when they got off and were handed their bags, they'd been robbed.

Back in June, consumers were puffed up with pride when Hertz announced it was ending its policy of overcharging customers for gas. If you returned the car without filling the tank all the way again, Hertz gave customers the option of pre-buying gas set according to the going rate at the pumps in that city, plus a $7 fee. Considering that before then, it was gouging us for twice the market rate of gas, or some $8 a gallon, the policy revision was a breath of fresh air.

We're gasping again. A few weeks ago, with none of the P.R. fanfare that accompanied the policy's implementation, Hertz quietly eliminated them. We're back to square one. As gas prices became more manageable, the rental car company's panic evaporated, and now that it isn't so desperate for our business, its true colors are returning.

Hertz's policy, poorly disclosed to customers, has also been that if you drive less than 50 to 100 miles during your rental, you are automatically charged a refueling fee. Even if your tank was returned full. That policy, too, seems to live on, unchanged. (I've asked Hertz to tell me if it does. No response so far.)

In early summer, the Maryland Attorney General was threatening to sue car rental companies over practices like these, and some bystanders thought that the legal pressure was what convinced them to relent. Something must have changed behind the scenes -- back-room deals, perhaps? -- because Hertz is no longer playing ball.

I have just returned from a visit to Washington, DC, where everyone is talking about next month's inauguration. Some estimates place attendance at up to four million people. Even half that amount would be spectacular. (To put it in perspective, Bush's second inaugural attracted only 300,000 people, yet it still cost $17 million to mount.)

Many DC residents are devising ways to rent their extra rooms or even to clear out entirely for the events and rent their entire homes. A typical example is this two-bedroom condo near the African-American hotspot of U Street, going for $1,500. (That's a night, not for the week.) Event organizers are also scrambling to accommodate all those people--the port-a-potty people are flush with anticipation, with every unit in the Mid-Atlantic region on its way to the Mall--and there won't be an empty hotel room for a 250-mile radius, something that worries the Red Cross, which likes to have a few spaces for emergencies.

Only a particularly hardy traveler will brave a trip to a city stuffed with four million outsiders. But Obama's popularity is so high that Washington is only one of the places attracting tourism based on the man. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau has put together travel suggestions based on the president-elect's favorites, including chef Rick Bayless' Mexican restaurant Topolobampo and the basketball courts where Obama likes to shoot hoops with his brother-in-law, who is the head basketball coach at Oregon State University. The CVB has mapped out a three-day visit based on Obama's Chicago favorites.

Last week, I wrote about the upcoming bloodletting on Broadway, in which six big musicals would close in two weeks. Well, make that seven. Another struggling show, the Patti LuPone revival of Gypsy, has moved its closing date to Jan. 11.

Current movies such as Frost/Nixon and Doubt may have arrived at your multiplex by way of Broadway, but as the economy seizes up, that fertile proving ground is quickly becoming a desert. One of the most parched producers is Disney Theatricals, which currently has three expensive productions on the Great White Way, none of them on steady financial footing.

Whereas a year ago, obtaining a discounted ticket to a Disney show was nearly impossible, last week the entertainment giant was shoring up business by saying if you bought a full-price ticket ($121.50) to one of its shows from January through mid-March, you could bring someone 18 or younger with you for free.