"You can't expect airlines to provide a service if they can't get paid for it."

When her father had a medical emergency this month, Anna Bamario struggled to find airline tickets to her native Venezuela, finally paying $1,250 round-trip to a destination about as far away as New York.

Now, she frets that her parents might not make Christmas in Pembroke Pines. Tickets from Caracas are so scarce that if they buy online, it could cost them $5,000 each — too much for the family to afford.

Across South Florida's growing Venezuelan community, it's a common concern: how to arrange travel for family and business when airlines have drastically cut back service because of disputes with Venezuela's government over foreign-currency payments. Carriers say they're owed about $4 billion

Read more at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.