Has an airline ever lost your bags? Did you arrive abroad, only to discover that your bags were sent in the opposite direction?

Quit your whining, things could be worse. Much, much worse.

In this lineup of major luggage mishaps from our friends at Gadling.com, we'll cover everything from luggage left out in the rain to bags burned to a crisp. We'll even throw in an incident involving the tossed ashes of a passengers mother.

So, next time your bags get delayed by a couple of hours, just be grateful that the airline did not totally destroy your bag, or deliver a casket instead of your clothes.

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A passenger flying on Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Denver arrived at her destination, only to discover that the cremated remains of her mother were no longer in her plastic urn.

The container itself was still there, but it was empty and the only evidence was a note left by the TSA letting her know they had inspected her checked bag.

The TSA at Sea-Tac airport is now worried that a screener "made an error" and removed the contents of the container.

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When a new terminal opens, things are bound to go wrong. Usually these things involve fairly simple issues, like computer problems, or a faulty PA system.

The launch of Heathrow Terminal 5 was different—this launch rapidly evolved into a total disaster, and finally reached the point where the airport operator simply told people to stay away, even if they had departing flights that day.

The baggage backup was so severe, that the airport started sending bags from London to a US based FedEx facility, just to have them retagged and sent to their rightful owner. Other bags were loaded on trucks and driven to Italy for the same purpose. Those bags were then trucked back to the UK.

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London Heathrow again—this time the airlines and airport operator were taken by surprise when the government introduced immediate changes to the carry-on baggage rules. All thanks to almost-would-be shoe bomber, Richard Reid.

Thousands of passengers were told they would have to check their bags, instead of bringing them on board.

End result? An airport totally overloaded with bags, and 100's of baggage handlers with nowhere to put those bags. So, where better to leave them than on the massive slabs of concrete otherwise known as the taxiway?

This would work fine in the Middle East, but London tends to get quite a bit of rain. Which explains why thousands of bags were delivered to their owners soaking wet, and covered in mold.

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Talk about a bad way to end your trip. When Shannon Tadel was quietly awaiting the departure of her flight back to Chicago, a United Airlines employee approched her and apologized for setting fire to her bag. Apparently someone had placed her bag next to the exhaust of a baggage loading truck. The pilot then asked her to come up front to the cockpit where she got a good view of a smoldering mess and a man with a hose. She was upgraded to first class, but it took the help of a local newspaper to finally force United Airlines to cut her a check for the damage.

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The normal path for a bag is check the bag > put bag in plane > unload bag > put bag on carousel for passengers.

That is not exactly the route taken by these 68 bags found in a container behind a Houston pet store back in 2006. Thieves had stolen the bags from the pickup area at the airport, removed any valuables and simply dumped the remains.

The thieves were found about a week later.

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Denver International Airport was supposed to be an example of a new generation of airport. The airport was designed unlike anything else in the world, and it had a matching luggage system to go with it. Sadly, the $200 Million system was flawed from the start, and even $1 Million a day in maintenance couldn't get the system working.

The planned grand opening of the airport was delayed, and ten years later, the entire automated system was removed and replaced by good old manual labor.

Sorting bags manually actually saved United Airlines $1 Million a month.

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Greed will always get you—especially if you are stealing 3 bags a day from the local airport. Eventually, a customer found a name tag in a piece of luggage he purchased at the flea market, and the gig was up for this thief.

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David Hingsburger is confined to a wheelchair. This creates the obvious extra hassle at the airport, but nothing prepared Mr. Hinsburger for his experience at the airport earlier this year.

While waiting next to his luggage, a security guard came over and started loading his luggage on to a cart. The security guard claimed that Mr. Hinsburger was not attending his luggage. Apparently in stupid land (where many security guards must come from), being "in possession" of your luggage can only be done by able bodied passengers. It took the intervention of a pilot to send the security guard away.

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When a Philly pet store owner sent one of his staff to pick up their order of tropical fish from the US Airways freight terminal, he had no idea that a mixup would mean something completely different would get loaded in their van.

The pet store owner knew something was wrong when he saw a casket instead of the usual fish tank. Turns out the airline handed them the remains of recently deceased 65 year old Jon Kenoyer.

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When Barbara Blewitt picked up her bag from the carousel, she got quite the surprise when she noticed someone had torched her bag and its contents. The airline gave her an "irregularity report." Last time we heard from her, the airline had still not paid for damage caused to her poor bag.

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