Feeling secure when you travel can take many forms, whether it’s security that you’re getting good value, or that there are measures in place to protect your physical safety.

Peter sits down with Wall Street Journal‘s Scott McCartney to discuss all facets of traveler and customer security.

Peter Greenberg: If you look at the latest J.D. Power and Associates survey, you see that Southwest Airlines, not surprisingly, receives very good marks among customer satisfaction. Remember, Southwest doesn’t charge for checked luggage.

Peter Greenberg (con’t): If you look at the actual fares that Southwest is charging in the markets where they compete with the legacy carriers, you find that they are either as expensive, or in some cases more expensive, than those legacy carriers, and yet they enjoy such goodwill that people still want to fly them.

Scott McCartney: Their image as a cheap, low-fare carrier has held over. But we did a lot of number crunching and often Southwest is not the lowest. Southwest is sometimes significantly more. The company’s explanation is that since they’re not charging fees when you add what you would spend in fees in their fares are still cheaper. If you’re going to check bags it really comes out the same.

PG: They’ve put their finger on the pulse of people feeling angry that they’ve been nickel and dimed. If you don’t feel you’re being nickel and dimed, you might actually be inclined to pay a higher fare.

SM: I’ve always believed that baggage was part of travel. You buy a ticket. What do you get with that ticket? Well you have to take things with you so baggage ought to be part of the deal. Southwest is pricing it that way, which is putting them at a bit of a disadvantage when people comparison shop. Overall value is more important, so that’s what you have to look at.

Get money-saving tips in our Budget Travel section.

PG: Switching gears, you’ve just reported that the State Department is revamping its program to better inform Americans traveling abroad about potential dangers. For a little history, a couple of months ago on CBS I was asked what you should do when things go wrong on your trip, especially when you have an insurrection or political unrest. I said that’s the last place I go is the U.S. Embassy. It’s the first place that gets bunkered in or shut down. The British or Canadian embassies take better care of you. That prompted a very angry letter from the State Department claiming I was misleading Americans because other embassies cannot provide passport services. I wasn’t talking about passport services, I was talking about “saving-your-behind” services when things go wrong.

SM: There’s a real service issue with the State Department and people traveling abroad. We’re seeing more and more instances in a country that you never expect to have major disruption, where travelers end up caught in the middle of an uprising or a disaster. When there is a civil uprising, do not go to the U.S. Embassy. That’s often where the anti-American mob is headed. You’re much better off going to your hotel or another friendly embassy as you suggest.

That said, the U.S. Department of State’s STEP Program, short for Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, has value. It’s essentially an email service. You sign up, you give them your destination, hotel information, contact information, and you get what they call the Warden Messages. These are the local messages that they send out to U.S. citizens abroad. It may the time and location of a protest. It may be an update on flooding after disaster. It can be very useful to people.

Learn more about how the State Department handles emergencies with: U.S. Begins Voluntary Evacuation Of Citizens From Egypt

It also gets you in the system so that if you do lose your passport the State Department already knows something about you. They say it makes it easier to get that passport replaced.

PG: By the way, three weeks after the State Department wrote that angry letter about my appearance on CBS, we had the problems in Cairo. Then 48 hours later the State Department issued a notice to Americans saying please avoid the U.S. Embassy if there are demonstrations nearby.

You pointed that when there’s something really bad that happens or something threatening, the phone circuits break down, email is slow, but texting seems to work better.

SM: You know that was a surprise to me. Text messages still worked even when the Internet was shut down, and cellular phone service was disrupted for voice calls. The State Department has figured this out. If email is down, they send their Warden Messages out by text. So it’s important when you travel overseas to have an international cellphone that’s capable of receiving text messages.

Check out Scott McCartney’s recent “The Middle Seat” column on how to deal with a crisis when traveling abroad.

By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.

Related links:

• WSJ’s Scott McCartney On Travel In 2011
• What Airline Consolidation & The AirTran-Southwest Merger Mean For Travelers
• Travel Resources Beyond The State Department
• State Department Travel Alerts Versus Travel Advisories
• What State Department Advisories Really Mean
• Travel Emergency: What To Do When Traveling In A Country In Crisis
• Radio Guests: Llangollen Pavilion, Llangollen, Wales
• Peter’s Travel Detective Blog