There were many problems but the main issue was in the following:
The Decision making in both incidents was not rational
Lack of planning for unexpected problems, although as mentioned in the two cases weather problems can be predicted approximately, so a solid plan should have been made.
Problem Justification
Although Rommel's decision is a legal and rational decision from his point of view, yet it was not an ethical one and it was biased. His decision was utilitarian it was meant for the greater good for the company not taking into consideration the rights of the customers and he didn't care which affected the image of his company in the media, this will eventually lead to decrease in the revenues for the upcoming years as the company have lost its image.
Same goes for Neeleman, his company was not prepared for a predictable environmental factor although they claim to be the best in customer service among all the other companies. They didn't only fail in managing the crisis when happened which is a failure and a lack of planning but also their reaction after the problem was not rational. In spite of the negative feedback they received they didn't try to make it up and apologize, they offered a refund which more people though wasoffending, Neeleman insisted that they didn't make a mistake that they should recover which again defiantly affected the goodwill of the company and cost him his job.
Suggested Alternatives
NationWide
First Alternative
For Nationwide, they could have called for Press conference with all the media and admit that they won't be able to provide everyone with all their money as this way they would bankrupted, instead they would work on helping their customers based on the severity of their case giving priority for those who suffered total loss.
Evaluation of this solution:
Pros: This way Nationwide will help improve their image which will assure a better relation with customer and thus more revenues in the