Earlier this year, I covered how executives at Denver International Airport (DEN) received criticism for spending $165K on a trip to Madrid to attend a conference intended to attract more airlines to the airport, including one executive spending $19K on his business class ticket.
As you’d expect, this was quite a scandal, and it just seems like no effort was put into controlling costs. Executives at the airport have faced an ethics investigation over this trip, and the results of that are now in.
In this post:
Ethics board clears airport executives, sort of
Denver’s Board of Ethics has cleared Denver International Airport and its CEO, Phil Washington, over the Madrid trip taken earlier this year. The investigation was used to determine if the executives were using public office for private gain, and while that wasn’t determined to be the case, there was a huge amount of criticism for the amount of money spent, and the rationale used for the spending.
The board said it was “appalled by both the amount of funds that were expended for this conference and by Mr. Washington’s seemingly cavalier attitude in responding to this complaint.” Washington told the board that he “had no idea of the cost of those tickets,” and that they were compliant with the travel policy for flights of eight hours or longer.
It was claimed that “upon reflection, had he known the price of the tickets was that high, he would not have allowed the trip.” But the board questioned that assertion, since Washington approved cost estimates for flights before they were purchased.
Washington also claimed that flying first or business class was necessary so that they could “hit the ground running” at the conference, though the board pointed out that most of the people on the trip did not participate in any panel presentations until two to three days after they arrived in Madrid.
The board couldn’t find any link between flying in first or business class and securing new air routes for the airport. The board also questioned “the need to send as many delegates as were sent to Madrid, and because this is an annual conference, disagrees with Mr. Washington that this was a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.”
The board concluded the following:
“While a violation of the Denver Code of Ethics is not proven by clear and convincing evidence, the conduct here falls short of the Board’s basic expectations and erodes the confidence of the citizens of the City and County of Denver that persons in positions of public power are acting for the benefit of the city’s best interests.”
I think the board reached exactly the right conclusion
I think the Denver Board of Ethics conclusion is spot on. I don’t think the airport executives violated ethics by using public office for private gain. However, I think this situation is the prime example of what happens when you have a simple travel policy that allows X class of service for flights of X length, with no limits on pricing, or anything else.
Obviously Denver Airport is a massive operation, and $165K is a drop in the bucket for the overall airport budget. At the same time, you should lead by example, and how can you tell workers that they shouldn’t be able to get a raise when you’re fine dropping $19K on a single airline ticket?
It just showed a lack of basic decency, which isn’t necessarily unethical, but that doesn’t mean that the public shouldn’t expect more.
Bottom line
Executives at Denver Airport have faced an ethics investigation over their spending on a recent business trip to Madrid, where they spent $165K, including them each dropping anywhere from $9K to $19K on tickets. While I agree that they weren’t using public office for private gain, that doesn’t mean that their behavior wasn’t inappropriate, and showed a disregard for how funds were being spent.
What do you make of the conclusion of the Denver Board of Ethics??
I tell you the ppl involved are Democrats, I will not even check.. I'm just sure.
In Spanish we say 'no tengo pruebas pero tampoco dudas'
Yup, this is exactly what you get from DEI hires. Corruption and incompetence.
"It just showed a lack of basic decency, which isn’t necessarily unethical..." WHAT?! Yes, Ben, not having "basic decency" IS unethical. Also, the amount of money the airport as a whole expends annually is completely irrelevant to whether the amount of money wasted by those corrupt individuals is significant.
this guy is a dei hire
Are there any actual consequences for this? It sounds like its just the ethics board saying 'this is bad'. People need to lose their jobs over this or have bonuses withheld at a minimum. I work in the private sector and if we had a manager do this and their boss approve it, one or both would be fired. This is similar mismanagement to what we are seeing in CA with the Insurance commissioner and...
Are there any actual consequences for this? It sounds like its just the ethics board saying 'this is bad'. People need to lose their jobs over this or have bonuses withheld at a minimum. I work in the private sector and if we had a manager do this and their boss approve it, one or both would be fired. This is similar mismanagement to what we are seeing in CA with the Insurance commissioner and there are no consequences there either. Public figures need to start being fired for these issues.
Wholeheartedly agreed. Ethics panel investigates, finds unethical activity, and the perpetrator gets a slap on the wrist. Without realistic consequences, the behavior will continue.
For that price they could have just chartered a private jet.
True, but I surmise part of the large expense was to pad their stats for their airline and hotel elite statuses.
The Denver airport appears to be a cesspool of corruption, cost overruns, no bid contracts, endless construction and pathetic leadership.
BS, the guy was an an almighty jolly, he lied and no American style rhetoric hides the fact he lied, he’s a bullshitter and he stole taxpayers money, He should have been jailed
N.O. mayor says hold my beer.
They pulled this nonsense at DFW a few years ago -- I was the reporter -- its criminal
Those MORONS could have gone first class for that! Shows how stupid they are.
It was proven during a senate hearing that Washington had absolutely no idea how to run the FAA let alone adequate knowledge of how modern aircraft functions.. he was a DEI hire...I strongly disagree on the boards decision...Washington and his staff should have been severely disciplined and made to pay for the trip out of their personal funds.. this guy is a clown..
You should travel as if you were spending your own money. I am sure Mr Washington would not spend that much if it was his own funds.
They probably paid zero attention to the price and just looked for the most direct route/convenient timing. The price could've been 190k each and still would be taken, I'd love to be the salesman collective a percentage commission on them!
Phillip A. Washington (born 1958) is an American governmental administrator working as the CEO of Denver International Airport. He was previously CEO of the Los Angeles Metro, and served as the head of president Joe Biden's transportation transition team. In July 2022 Biden nominated Washington to serve as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, but Congress delayed taking action to confirm him over concerns about his lack of expertise in the area and Washington withdrew...
Phillip A. Washington (born 1958) is an American governmental administrator working as the CEO of Denver International Airport. He was previously CEO of the Los Angeles Metro, and served as the head of president Joe Biden's transportation transition team. In July 2022 Biden nominated Washington to serve as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, but Congress delayed taking action to confirm him over concerns about his lack of expertise in the area and Washington withdrew from the nomination on March 25, 2023.
Everyone is learning how to stay within the rules while abusing it to their limits because people no longer have any honor. No understanding of the word honor. Somehow they learned in life finding ways to break honor is how you survive. How pitiful!!
This is why our laws are so complex. We have to list everything in painful detail for people to follow.
There's nothing complex about this situation. He stole money from the taxpayers to enrich himself with a lavish trip. And the ahole isn't trying to "survive," he's trying to enrich himself at the expense of everyone else. He's a plain old criminal and should be in prison.
The policy doesn't need to spell everything out - senior executives should be trusted to apply good judgment and lead by example. Flying business class to Europe is reasonable, and yes sometimes such tickets can run 8k. Spending 20k shows lack of judgment and makes me wonder what other questionable decisions these people have made.
This all seems so quaint in this day and age when you have the president and his family blatantly enriching themselves and you have other officials caught accepting a bag of cash and they don't care... When the rot is at the top.. it's to be expected.
Lol. You dont think the Clintons grifted or Obama buying a multimillion dollar home in Nantucket are the examples of not leveraging their position for financial gain? Trump is just more open about it. It has been around for a long time.
So if Clintons and Obamas did it, it is OK for Trump or other presidents to do it? Got you!
It's not OK, but I think Brain W's point is that this isn't something new, given that the original poster said "this all seems so quaint in this day and age". Unfortunately, most public officials tend to use taxpayer money/resources for personal gain (which is why I think there should be a way to oversee exactly where public funds go, to hold them accountable, but that's beside the point).
>Trump is just more open about it
None of them kept it secret. The difference between them and Trump is the sheer scale and scope of it. $12m dollars for a Nantucket house is a literal drop in the bucket compared to the money Trump made on his crypto coin alone. A QUARTER OF A PERCENT of Trump's crypto earnings. And that's without even considering the billions Kushner got from the Saudis in his...
>Trump is just more open about it
None of them kept it secret. The difference between them and Trump is the sheer scale and scope of it. $12m dollars for a Nantucket house is a literal drop in the bucket compared to the money Trump made on his crypto coin alone. A QUARTER OF A PERCENT of Trump's crypto earnings. And that's without even considering the billions Kushner got from the Saudis in his first term, or the billions more he got this term, WHILE WORKING FOR THE TRUMP ADMIN. Being "in the open" does not make unprecedented corruption ok.
The problem was not with the executives but with the travel policy itself that allowed this wasteful spending. I work in government. Our travel policy sets similar parameters for travel and class of travel but sets a reasonable monetary ceiling for airfares, hotel, car rental. For hotels, anything above $250 a night triggers all kinds of reviews and prior authorizations and justifications. Our travel policy also states that the least costly travel options should be...
The problem was not with the executives but with the travel policy itself that allowed this wasteful spending. I work in government. Our travel policy sets similar parameters for travel and class of travel but sets a reasonable monetary ceiling for airfares, hotel, car rental. For hotels, anything above $250 a night triggers all kinds of reviews and prior authorizations and justifications. Our travel policy also states that the least costly travel options should be pursued. It is crazy DIA travel policy didn’t have any of these safeguards in place.
This is true, and an ethical employee understands they're spending company money and plans accordingly. Mr Washington may have acted within the letter of the policy, but his behaviour was unethical. If I was the Chairman of the Board I'd insist on approving all his travel spending in advance from now on, since he obviously can't be trusted. If he finds this "humiliating" or "intolerable", he can find himself another job.
Serious question: Have you seen a travel policy that avoids both a) this sort of abuse, and b) forcing people to take stupid routings to save $10? Like (I think) many places, my university deals with this by having some discretion built into the system. This works well most of the time but can lead to a fox-guarding-the-henhouse situation when high executives travel.
I think writing a policy that avoids unintended consequences but also...
Serious question: Have you seen a travel policy that avoids both a) this sort of abuse, and b) forcing people to take stupid routings to save $10? Like (I think) many places, my university deals with this by having some discretion built into the system. This works well most of the time but can lead to a fox-guarding-the-henhouse situation when high executives travel.
I think writing a policy that avoids unintended consequences but also isn't subjective is really hard.
The problem is us. We got too used to growing up in situations like our parents asking "I grounded you why are you are you watching tv" and we respond "yes mom but you didn't say WHEN it would start". Thats our laws. We demand every situation spelled out. We don't pay the consequences until we go through a trial and have pros argue for us. Whereas if this was a law in China you would be bloody and beaten down before you discuss anything.
This falls under the 'just because you can, should you?' though when you work for a bureaucratic/govt agency ... the rules are designed by pencil pushers who get confused by anything not a straight line ... when I was a senior exec and faced with a scenario of a trip costing more than $10k, there are other solutions like flying to NYC first or staying over the weekend in Europe which sounds like a boondoggle...
This falls under the 'just because you can, should you?' though when you work for a bureaucratic/govt agency ... the rules are designed by pencil pushers who get confused by anything not a straight line ... when I was a senior exec and faced with a scenario of a trip costing more than $10k, there are other solutions like flying to NYC first or staying over the weekend in Europe which sounds like a boondoggle to a bureaucrats but might say the company $6k ... but again, a normal corporation would sign off on that but a quasi government agency?
Qualifying for GS ain't easy. Gotta do what you gotta do
The 1st paragraph says one executive spent $19,000 on a business class ticket. That seems impossibly high, even for a last-minute booking. First class, maybe?
Though that is so high noone in his right mind would pay for it, I can find fares from Washington to Madrid around 19k J-Return with British Airways. Assuming they booked multiple seats maybe one after the other and absolutely had to be on the same plane by one airline that is more expensive for that route anyway, the price is certainly possible.
Not sure why I thought it was from Washington. From Denver the most expensive flight I can see at first glance is 11k but I still think 19k is possible, especially when this was the last J seat on the plane.
This said, after he told the panel they needed first or business class in order to immediately work it is quite possible this was F.
Yeah, the infamous first class on United Airlines from Denver to Madrid.
Oh wait, it doesn't exist. Maybe stop speculating about things you clearly have no clue about.
I didn’t see anything about UAL in the article
That's why I said since day 1, revenue based FFP is going to enable a lot more unethical bookings.
I've heard stories of people booking last minute full fare tickets so they can earn more miles even if they know about the trip weeks in advance.
It would be helpful to know who booked and confirmed the tickets?
Directly with airlines, or a Travel Management firm?
After almost 6 months, the source of the bookings should be disclosed to understand the logic of such high priced tickets.
That must have been some clever (and inefficient) routing to get the cost of the ticket to $19k. There’s no international F cabins that go to MAD from the US, so it seems they would have had to route through another city in Europe. Like maybe US-FRA in LH F? Or US-CDG in AF F? Maybe even through the Middle East, then back to MAD.
"No private gain"
So they didn't even put their frequent flier numbers on the reservations?!
Most companies’ travel policies explicitly state the employee is allowed to earn miles accrued for their trip. In order to meet the threshold of proof here, it would need to be reasonably proven that they took the flight for the sole purpose of gaining miles. That’s ostensibly false as it is known they visited the conference. It’s still ridiculous, but your particular argument wouldn’t hold up in court.
Well we all know that "legal" and "ethical" are two entirely different concepts.
Pete, are you saying it’s unethical for employees to earn points off their travel if the company pays for it, or only if it’s a “large” number of points? In fact many Airline FF Programs’ terms of service state that only the traveler can earn points - they can’t go to a business or another person even if another person paid for the flights. It would find it equally unethical for a business to deny...
Pete, are you saying it’s unethical for employees to earn points off their travel if the company pays for it, or only if it’s a “large” number of points? In fact many Airline FF Programs’ terms of service state that only the traveler can earn points - they can’t go to a business or another person even if another person paid for the flights. It would find it equally unethical for a business to deny something provided to an employee (points) when there is no additional cost to the business to do so. Again, this instance was a gross misuse of company funds and I’m not defending it.
@Timtamtrak I'm not an expert by any means on what's the general consensus is regarding points earning on business trips in the US/UK, but based on my experience being based in Germany and working at many German companies (ranging from "small" ones to large multinational corporations), points earned on corporate travel are usually/technically supposed to be used only for future corporate travel. I say technically because I have seen this be enforced on very different...
@Timtamtrak I'm not an expert by any means on what's the general consensus is regarding points earning on business trips in the US/UK, but based on my experience being based in Germany and working at many German companies (ranging from "small" ones to large multinational corporations), points earned on corporate travel are usually/technically supposed to be used only for future corporate travel. I say technically because I have seen this be enforced on very different levels across the spectrum, but legally speaking redemption miles earned on corporate travel are seen the same way as bonus payments from a fiscal point of view, which would imply further tax filings for both employer and employee as far as I'm aware, if these points were to be used for personal travel... something which employers would rather avoid by stipulating that the points earned are to be solely used for corporate travel
@TimTam I'm saying it's unethical to travel at what must be close to full business class fare when there are almost certainly cheaper alternatives available for the same dates. This was a conference, the dates of which would have been confirmed months in advance. Forward planning would have saved the company some money. It seems to me that Mr Washington acted as though he was entitled to treat the travel budget as if it existed...
@TimTam I'm saying it's unethical to travel at what must be close to full business class fare when there are almost certainly cheaper alternatives available for the same dates. This was a conference, the dates of which would have been confirmed months in advance. Forward planning would have saved the company some money. It seems to me that Mr Washington acted as though he was entitled to treat the travel budget as if it existed for his own personal indulgence. I don't begrudge him business class travel, or earning points, but spending $19K of company money on a TATL return in biz is taking the piss. It's not like he was charging off at the last minute to sure-up a $200M deal...