A New Twist on Capital Flight: Venezuela's Absurd Airfares

It’s hard to find a flight out of Venezuela—and it has nothing to do with airline service.

Owing to currency controls erected under former President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelans have turned into masters of currency arbitrage, exploiting the mismatch in the official and illegal exchange rates for the dollar and bolivar. While the official rate is pegged as 6.3 bolivars to the dollar, the black market rate is seven times higher, as Reuters reported, leading to a rush to obtain dollars abroad that can be sold back home. Flights are sold out for months in advance because of a quirk in travel rules allowing anyone with a valid airline ticket to exchange up to $3,000. The maneuver is known as el raspadito, or the scrape.