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. Image from Flickr user Mr.Theklan. 01/06/09