Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and Connecticut Democrat U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday called on Southwest Airlines to compensate passengers whose flights had been canceled in the wake of a massive winter storm this weekend that disrupted travel for thousands.

The Dallas-based airline canceled more than 70% of its flights Monday, more than 60% of its flights on Tuesday, and warned passengers that it would run only a third of its typical schedule as crews made their way back to where they needed to be. Other airlines had cancellation rates of none to 2% by Tuesday.Read more: Southwest cancels at least 80% of flights at Logan, Bradley on Tuesday

And even as a company spokesperson said the airline was chasing our tails, trying to catch up and get back to normal safely after the cancellations gained steam, the two U.S. senators said Southwest Airlines was failing consumers during the most important travel week of the year.

Instead of a holiday spent celebrating with family and friends, passengers are sleeping in airports or desperately trying to reach customer service agents. For those travelers whose holidays have been ruined, there is no real way for Southwest to make this right, Markey and Blumenthal said in a statement.

The two lawmakers called on the company to offer rebooked tickets, ticket refunds, and hotel, meal, and transportation reimbursement, as well as significant monetary compensation to passengers whose flights were canceled.

Southwest is planning to issue a $428 million dividend next year the company can afford to do right by the consumers it has harmed. Southwest should focus first on its customers stranded at airports and stuck on interminable hold, the lawmakers said in a statement.

Passengers may request a refund of an unused flight ticket by filling out a form on Southwest Airlines website. Passengers who had a flight scheduled before Jan. 2, 2023, can rebook in their original class of service without incurring additional charges or fly standby within 30 days of the original travel date.

The airline is also offering to cover some additional expenses passengers incurred during delays or cancellations between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2, 2023.

We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation, the company said.Read more: DOT to examine Southwest Airlines operations; over 2,500 flights canceled

In a statement released Monday, the company said continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a way that is unacceptable.

And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning, the statement said. Were working with safety at the forefront to urgently address wide-scale disruption by rebalancing the airline and repositioning crews and our fleet ultimately to best serve all who plan to travel with us.

But the rate at which the airline canceled flights drew the attention of federal regulators at the U.S. Department of Transportation, who said they planned to examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.

USDOT is concerned by Southwests unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service, the agency said on social media Monday evening.Read more: Southwest passengers blame cancellations on staffing, incompetence

At midday Tuesday, there were roughly 2,950 flight cancellations, and of those, 2,549 were attributed to Southwest Airlines.

The winter storm that moved across the country over the weekend decimated many travel plans and grounded thousands of plans. Local international airports in the Northeast were not spared from the effects of Southwest Airlines cancellations.

Of 48 total flights canceled at Logan International Airport in Boston Tuesday, 29 were called off by Southwest Airlines, according to data from the flight-tracking service FlightAware.

A total of 23 cancellations were recorded at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut as of Tuesday afternoon, with 19 attributed to Southwest Airlines, according to FlightAware.

In their statement, Blumenthal and Markey said Southwest cannot avoid compensating passengers by claiming cancellations were caused by the recent winter storms.

As Southwest executives have acknowledged, the mass cancellations yesterday were largely due to the failure of its own internal systems. As such, those cancellations should be categorized as controllable, and Southwest should compensate passengers accordingly, the lawmakers said.

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.