59. The Denver Airport Baggage Debacle of 2005
Year: 2005
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Company: Purity Distilling Company
Estimated Damage Value: $410 million*
In 2005, Denver International Airport’s futuristic computerized baggage system, championed by United Airlines, faltered disastrously, incurring a $410 million loss. Launched with high hopes, it quickly became a logistical nightmare, damaging or delaying luggage, before being discontinued within the same year.

Designed to outpace human workers, this automated marvel turned nightmarish as software glitches literally consumed travelers’ baggage. The system’s architects failed to anticipate its complexity, neglecting essential safety nets like recovery protocols, rendering it helpless against and irrecoverable from operational mishaps.