Ever wonder where that lost luggage of yours ended up? If you flew through PHX, it may be at this creepy couple's house. They were arrested this week for stealing more than 1,000 bags from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. I got a call from channel 12 News in Phoenix to talk about how travelers can prevent this from happening to them. Even though it's tough to protect a bag that isn't in your possession, there are a few things you can do to make sure someone else doesn't claim your luggage.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a native of Panama City, Florida. Very few of us have left the Redneck Riviera--and that is probably because the Emerald Coast is one of our nation's best kept secrets. It's gorgeous there. Hand on my heart, the beaches blow away anything I've ever seen in Hawaii or California and are on par with the best shores of the Caribbean. But my quiet--and okay, a bit backwater--town may soon be thrust into the tourism spotlight.

The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation announced their picks for the prestigious Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, and The Window Seat took home the Gold for Travel Blogs.

It's quite humbling to look through the list of winners in categories ranging from travel magazines to travel news, spotting our blog named alongside honorable publications such as USA Today and Budget Travel. A big thanks to SATWF, the judges at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication and to our readers for perusing our pages. We are honored!

You may have heard of Ryanair, the low-cost---and I do mean low-cost---carrier that started in Ireland in 1985 and now has 32 bases and more than 800 low fare routes across 26 countries. I've even flown Ryanair myself, actually: London to Dublin and back again for the princely sum of one pound. Yep, that's about a buck sixty right now. I think I spent more on the cup of coffee I bought at the airport.

That was the headline of an Associated Press article that came out this morning. Indeed, I do think airfare is stabilizing, a comment I also made to Roger Yu at USA Today. Loyal readers know I don't pull this stuff out of thin air, rather, I rely on the vast data and resources of Travelocity.

The Associated Press is officially denouncing this hurricane season as a “dud.” In my opinion, it’s been exactly the opposite. As far as I’m concerned, no news is good news when it comes to hurricanes, and this year, there has been delightfully little hurricane-related news to report.

As the travel industry suffers from a downturn in business and group travel, destinations with a reputation for fun are among the hardest hit. According to the Wall Street Journal, Orlando, Las Vegas and Reno are three destinations believed to be on a blacklist when it comes to booking government meetings. The article quotes a Department of Justice spokeswoman as saying, "We do have guidance that says avoid locations and accommodations that give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations."

Forget stripped-down service from the airlines; how about a stripped-down staff instead?

Air New Zealand recruited actual employees to bare all for a new ad campaign promoting the airline as the carrier “whose fares have nothing to hide.” Wearing only body paint, the staff filmed both a TV commercial and an in-flight safety video (and you thought Delta’s safety video was hot!). Take a look.

If you follow the news, then you know that last week a pilot died mid-flight. Luckily, the plane landed without incident. The pilot was 60 years old, and apparently died of natural causes, which brings up a topic that we’ve touched on here before on The Window Seat: how old is too old to fly?

Back in December of 2007, then-president Bush approved fast-tracked legislation to raise the pilot age from 60 to 65. The thinking was that if a pilot could pass the same rigorous, standardized medical tests as the younger set, then there’s no reason to bar them from the yoke of the plane. Many people, myself included, applauded this decision, seeing it as an end to age discrimination.

We're starting to hear that phrase again: capacity cuts. We began hearing it last year as airlines got hit hard with high fuel costs, weakening demand and a tough economy. Delta and American announced today that they will further reduce the number of seats sold on flights this fall, and other major airlines are considering it, a reminder that this recession is still alive and airlines are still feeling the crunch. These cuts are in addition to previous announcements made in March by both Delta and United.