Channel 5 News’ Cassandra Garcia was originally scheduled to arrive in Harlingen Wednesday evening after flying out last week to spend the holidays with her family in Miami, Florida.

Instead, Garcia is still at her parent’s house after Southwest Airlines cancelled her flight.

“While I’m happy I got to spend time with [my family], it's also been a challenge getting back to the RGV,” Garcia said.

Garcia was informed her connecting flight to Harlingen was cancelled Tuesday at 3 a.m., more than 24 hours before her scheduled departure time.

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Garcia tried rebooking another connecting flight, but Southwest Airlines did not have any available flights to the Valley until Saturday.

She then called Southwest Airlines’ customer service number 18 times before she was able to get through to a representative, but was placed on hold.

Garcia ended up cancelling her flight from Miami and booked a new flight home on a different airline while she was still on hold with Southwest’s customer service.

Two hours later, a representative from Southwest finally answered and told her to fill out and submit an online complaint form with receipts for additional travel expenses related to the flight cancellation.

The representative told Garcia it could take up to 14 business days before the airline contacts her regarding her reimbursement.