Ross Feinstein

Strategic communications professional. Previously @Teneo @AmericanAir @TSA @ICEgov @ODNIgov. Views are my own.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@davidshepardson Drills are a regulatory requirement.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@amtord1 It was 2013. https://t.co/oHv65OS076

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@_ZachGriff Big Sky / Yellowstone Club.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@caseynorton72 😀

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

After more than a decade in aviation-related roles, I am applying my skills to a new industry. I recently joined the fantastic communications team at GEICO — of course working closely with our spokes-lizard, who you know well. And speaking of the Gecko, make sure you watch our new documentary that explores his history. https://t.co/xRPuSXHpE9

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@_ZachGriff Was great skiing with you, Zach! 🎿 ⛷️

[Alta Ski Area @AltaSkiArea]

Soul of Alta—a short film—is now live: https://t.co/AxvHxX3V6m

Alta Ski Area and Sweetgrass Productions bring you a short film that explores the intersection of people and powder skiing throughout Alta’s 86-year history.

🎥: @SweetgrassP

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@AirlineFlyer Just one bust as far as I can tell.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

Quite the challenges for @SouthwestAir customers today at @fly2midway. Numerous aircraft waited quite a while for an available gate.

Here are some of the longest ones I found via @flightaware...

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

An overall smooth weekend of holiday travel ran into a hiccup as dense fog made it harder for flights to reach Chicago’s Midway International Airport before Christmas Eve https://t.co/wYZ9hPV4LY https://t.co/wYZ9hPV4LY

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@WandrMe However, might not have been issued soon enough. Clearly extensive gate compression. https://t.co/2PLSolK3Ne

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

Quite the challenges for @SouthwestAir customers today at @fly2midway. Numerous aircraft waited quite a while for an available gate.

Here are some of the longest ones I found via @flightaware...

[Lift Blog @liftblog]

Yes! Delta’s newest generation entertainment system points out passing ski areas.

[Squawk Box @SquawkCNBC]

"Part of what we saw with the $LUV breakdown a year ago was it was not just about the weather," says @PeteButtigieg on the Department of Transportation fining @SouthwestAir $140M. "This is about accountability and frankly changing incentives for airlines."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@USDOT @SecretaryPete to @petemuntean: "How you bounce back from a weather event is under your control, and this sends a message that every airline has to make the proper investments in having a good enough system and good enough customer service that when the unexpected happens, when weather happens or anything else, you can quickly get back on your feet, take care of your passengers, get people to where they need to be."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@petemuntean: "Well, the interesting thing here is that the $140 million fine, $90 million of that goes to @SouthwestAir passengers for future cancellations and delays in the terms of vouchers. $35 million goes directly to the federal government. Let's look back a year ago. We're almost on the one-year anniversary of when this meltdown really kicked off. Dec. 21, 2022. It lasted 10 days, 16,900 flights canceled. We're talking 2 million people left in the lurch. The Department of Transportation imposed this fine because of serious lapses in consumer protections. They say that Southwest Airlines did not adequately communicate with passengers, did not provide them the best customer service, and did not get them refunds quick enough, even though Southwest has already refunded and reimbursed passengers through the tune of $600 million."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@petemuntean: "Well, the interesting thing here is that the $140 million fine, $90 million of that goes to @SouthwestAir passengers for future cancellations and delays in the terms of vouchers. $35 million goes directly to the federal government. Let's look back a year ago. We're almost on the one-year anniversary of when this meltdown really kicked off. Dec. 21, 2022. It lasted 10 days, 16,900 flights canceled. We're talking 2 million people left in the lurch. The Department of Transportation imposed this fine because of serious lapses in consumer protections. They say that Southwest Airlines did not adequately communicate with passengers, did not provide them the best customer service, and did not get them refunds quick enough, even though Southwest has already refunded and reimbursed passengers through the tune of $600 million."

[U.S. Department of Transportation @USDOT]

As part of this penalty, Southwest is required to compensate future passengers whose flight is significantly delayed or cancelled with a $75 voucher. That’s in addition to being required to pay for flight rebooking, hotels, and food during the delay.

[U.S. Department of Transportation @USDOT]

Today, we announced a $140 million penalty—30 times larger than any airline penalty in our Department's history—against Southwest Airlines for failing passengers during its 2022 holiday meltdown.
https://t.co/b34pEk1GyU

[Sam Sweeney @SweeneyABC]

BREAKING: Southwest Airlines will now be forced to give passengers a $75 travel credit if their flight is delayed by more than 3 hours and the delay is caused by the airline. This is part of a record $140 million fine handed down by the DOT after last year’s holiday meltdown.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

@WealthyCFO @USDOT @SecretaryPete @SquawkCNBC Like most federal fines, they go to the general fund at the U.S. Treasury.

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@USDOT @SecretaryPete on @SquawkCNBC: "Today's announcement is a big penalty and enforcement action related to failures that took place a year ago. But I would also say that over the course of the last year, we've seen much better outcomes than we had a year or a year and a half ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the pressure that we put on airlines, and a lot of it also is the airlines should be credited for stepping up in response to that pressure. This year we saw some of the biggest travel days ever. Matter of fact, the day after, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, that was the most passengers to board airplanes in the United States of America, in our history. And the cancellation rate was less than one half of one percent. Part of it is that weather was better on certain key days. Then again, we went through some storms, and the big problem we had a year and a half ago was even on blue sky days, there were breakdowns, delays, cancellations, that kind of thing. So this is really, I think, reflecting that there has been real improvement over the last year. But part of what we saw with the Southwest breakdown a year ago was that it's not just about the weather. The entire system, if you remember where we were, right around Christmas 2022, the whole system got clobbered by this major winter storm. But then all of the other airlines got back on their feet quickly. Southwest was a different story, and this is about accountability and frankly changing the incentives for airlines to make sure that that can't happen again."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@Lebeaucarnews: "Do you really think other airlines will do this voluntarily or do you think it will take a rule?"

@USDOT @SecretaryPete: "You know, we've seen a couple of them respond not to this level, to the call we put out to to offer some kind of of compensation. It's a very different story in other parts of the world. In Europe, you can depending how long you're delayed, get hundreds of Euros as cash compensation. Again the idea there is not only does the airline need to rebook you, cover your meals, but there needs to be some accountability for wasting your time. If it's something that's the airline's fault, again, that you know, we know that nobody controls the weather. We're not punishing airlines for bad weather. We're holding them responsible for how they treat passengers. And, you know, we've seen a lot of appetite. Ever since I was with the President earlier announcing that we were launching this rulemaking process. We know the flying public is interested. And I even think it's to the benefit of the sector, the industry as a whole, for people to have a better feeling about what to expect in their passenger experience. I think this kind of compensation could add to that. So I think at the end of the day, it can be a win win, although I know the airlines don't necessarily see it that way."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@USDOT @SecretaryPete on @SquawkCNBC: "Today's announcement is a big penalty and enforcement action related to failures that took place a year ago. But I would also say that over the course of the last year, we've seen much better outcomes than we had a year or a year and a half ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the pressure that we put on airlines, and a lot of it also is the airlines should be credited for stepping up in response to that pressure. This year we saw some of the biggest travel days ever. Matter of fact, the day after, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, that was the most passengers to board airplanes in the United States of America, in our history. And the cancellation rate was less than one half of one percent. Part of it is that weather was better on certain key days. Then again, we went through some storms, and the big problem we had a year and a half ago was even on blue sky days, there were breakdowns, delays, cancellations, that kind of thing. So this is really, I think, reflecting that there has been real improvement over the last year. But part of what we saw with the Southwest breakdown a year ago was that it's not just about the weather. The entire system, if you remember where we were, right around Christmas 2022, the whole system got clobbered by this major winter storm. But then all of the other airlines got back on their feet quickly. Southwest was a different story, and this is about accountability and frankly changing the incentives for airlines to make sure that that can't happen again."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@USDOT @SecretaryPete: "@SouthwestAir is going to be leading the industry if only because they've been ordered to and we want to see how the industry and the market respond to that. Look the $35 million cash that was important because we really feel that the cash penalties in the past haven't been enough to change behavior, buy some of these companies. So I think the biggest one we've done historically was Air Canada, about $4.5 million. So this is almost 10 times that. But you know, as important as that cash fine was, we didn't want the majority of this to be in the form of dollars going to the Treasury. We want most of this to be dollars going back to customers and that's what the the $90 million is about. It's a requirement that for the next three years with with these $90 million, they go into vouchers, $75 on top of needing to get your meals or hotel or anything like that covered if you have a long delay, and it's the airline's fault, you get that added cash compensation. I want to see how again, how the market responds, how the industry responds, because in parallel, we're working on a rule, looking at how this could become an industry standard to have some kind of direct compensation. But we don't want to have to wait on a federal rule, to the process which can take a very long time to become a reality. And so even though it's part of a penalty action, I'm excited to see this kind of customer benefit that will be available to Southwest passengers starting in the spring of next year."

[Ross Feinstein @RossFeinstein]

.@USDOT @SecretaryPete on @SquawkCNBC: "Today's announcement is a big penalty and enforcement action related to failures that took place a year ago. But I would also say that over the course of the last year, we've seen much better outcomes than we had a year or a year and a half ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the pressure that we put on airlines, and a lot of it also is the airlines should be credited for stepping up in response to that pressure. This year we saw some of the biggest travel days ever. Matter of fact, the day after, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, that was the most passengers to board airplanes in the United States of America, in our history. And the cancellation rate was less than one half of one percent. Part of it is that weather was better on certain key days. Then again, we went through some storms, and the big problem we had a year and a half ago was even on blue sky days, there were breakdowns, delays, cancellations, that kind of thing. So this is really, I think, reflecting that there has been real improvement over the last year. But part of what we saw with the Southwest breakdown a year ago was that it's not just about the weather. The entire system, if you remember where we were, right around Christmas 2022, the whole system got clobbered by this major winter storm. But then all of the other airlines got back on their feet quickly. Southwest was a different story, and this is about accountability and frankly changing the incentives for airlines to make sure that that can't happen again."