Amid some striking airfare sales this week, J.D. Power and Associates released their 2009 North America Airline Satisfaction Study. The findings represent a four-year low in customer satisfaction. Alaska Airlines got the highest rating among major carriers, while JetBlue Airways took the title for budget airlines -- JetBlue's fifth consecutive top ranking. Southwest finished second in the budget category, while Continental was runner-up among the major carriers.

The survey queried both business and leisure travelers. It concludes that frequent fliers are generally more satisfied with air travel these days than their less-traveled contemporaries. Dale Haines, senior director of the travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates, says research shows that discrepancy is related to the inexperienced flier just now discovering all the new fees associated with air travel.

Haines also says airlines that communicate the reasons behind foibles such as flight delays tend to score higher in these surveys. By the way, findings also show wait times to obtain boarding passes or check baggage actually decreased from last year's 14-minute average to 12 minutes.

What did you do with your two extra minutes?

Surveys of this type are often written off by serious budget travelers. We're looking for the best airfares and we'll book with the carriers that offer those elusive deals. But in an industry where the pressure to cut costs and fares is relentless, it's worth checking every year to see who is succeeding at maintaining strong service.

There are many ways to find accommodations. You know about the traditional method of finding a hotel and paying the rack rate for a room. You might not know about some of the other ways budget travelers go about finding lodging. Take a look at 10 types of accommodations for the budget traveler. Some you might already have tried. Others are waiting to be tried and adopted into your next itinerary.

Trying to keep up with all the travel deals this season has been a challenge. Airlines, hotels, resorts and tour companies are offering deals you don't often see at the start of summer.

Two examples: If you can pick up and fly from Miami to Amsterdam this week, your base round trip fare can be as low as $355 USD. Taxes and fees will nearly double that amount, but we're still talking a round trip ticket between the U.S. and Europe in summer for less than $700.

BedandBreakfast.com has a temporary deal where you can get a $100 discount on bookings of four nights or more. The Web site says this offer is their "biggest sale ever."

That claim might well be nothing more than a marketing line. But if you're able to travel, this is a summer in which your money could buy a lot more than expected. It pays to dream big and shop carefully. Many of the deals you'll see advertised will have fairly short shelf-lives. When you find one, don't wait too long to book it.

Here's the latest list of 10 travel deals. Many of these links lead to offers with a very limited shelf life, so if you're interested, act quickly. But don't act so quickly that you miss the fine print. For deals that aren't quite so fleeting, check out Summer deals. Among the deals this week: savings on passes for New York and Philadelphia; airfare sales for travel to Europe; and big discounts for online Lonely Planet purchases.