Something came across my desk the other day that just was amazing to me.

Someone compiled a list of 10 of the World’s Worst Luggage Incidents, and it is just funny.

We know at least two of the top 10 have to be at Heathrow.

We all remember what happened when Terminal 5 opened up, and they misplaced, delayed, damaged, or otherwise lost more than 40,000 bags, and that was just on the first day.

They lost so many bags, and so many bags were piling up, that you know British Airways did? They filled 747s with these bags and flew them all to Milan so they could sort them there. That’s how bad it got.

Here’s number three: When a passenger was quietly waiting the departure of her flight back to Chicago, a United Airlines employee approached her and apologized for setting fire to her bag.

Apparently somebody had placed her bag next to the exhaust of a baggage loading truck. The pilot then asked her to come up to the front of the cockpit where she got a good view of a smoldering mess and a man with a hose.

Well they upgraded her to first class. That’s OK. The question is: Did they refund her checked baggage fee? Oh boy.

Check out how one passenger who wasn’t treated right got revenge in United Breaks Guitars, Passenger Gets Revenge Via Song on YouTube.

You know I remember not too long ago when the airlines would gladly lose my bags for free. Now they want you to pay for it.

Here’s one: How about 68 bags found in a container behind a Houston pet store? Thieves had stolen the bags from the pick-up area at the airport, removed any of the valuables and simply dumped the remains. That was fun.

Denver International Airport was supposed to be part of a new generation of airports. Well we remember what happened when the Denver airport opened—the machinery ate bags. Ate them! Even $1 million a day in maintenance couldn’t get the system working. I’m happy to report that it’s now working.

These are some of the worst luggage incidents ever reported by airlines—and often they’re not even reported by the airlines; they’re usually reported by passengers whose luggage was destroyed.

Get the facts on lost bags with New Report Estimates Over 40 Million Bags Lost Worldwide Annually. Or get more information on keeping yourself, and your valuables, safe when you travel with our Travel Safety & Security section.

I mentioned the story of the United bag on fire. But let me tell you this story, and this comes under the category of “You cannot make this stuff up.”

In April of this year I was flying United Airlines from JFK to San Francisco, and two days later from San Francisco to Shanghai. But when I got to San Francisco, I realized I couldn’t find my wallet. I still had one or two credit cards in my shirt pocket but everything else I had—my drivers license all my other membership cards, every thing gone.

I learned a long time ago—and the credit-card companies are going to hate me when I say this—but I never report my credit cards lost or stolen because they’ll change the account numbers and all my pre-approved credit-card charges are nailed. So I just say that the washer ate it so they’ll send me a new card with the same account number. My maximum liability, in the event the card is used fraudulently, is only $50.

Check out Peter’s video tips on how to not lose your luggage when traveling.

I got all new cards with the same account number. But no sign of the wallet. Cut to two and a half months later, I’m leaving on a Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong. I’m sitting in the lounge and an agent comes up to me and asks me if I have my wallet.

Now, remember this is a whole other airline, in another building. And I say, “Yes, I have my wallet” because my new wallet is in my pocket.

She says, “No, do you have your original wallet? Because we have it.”

I said, “You have it? What are you doing with it?”

She told me, “Well it’s down at the gate and when you board the flight they’ll hand it to you.”

Now somebody has yet to tell me how that wallet got to a Cathay Pacific flight gate two and a half months later after I took a United Airlines Flight to San Francisco. But there it was, and everything was still in it.

So I asked the guy at the gates, “Where did you find it?”

Well, a British Airlines guy found it in the British Airways bag room.

How did it make its way to British Airways?

We’re going to find out what happened in a long mystery tour of the wallet.

By Peter Greenberg for PeterGreenberg.com.

Read more from Peter’s Travel Detective Blog here.