I have no idea how other seasons have gone, but this season, they've been split onto 2 different flight on every air travel leg with about an hour difference between scheduled arrival times. Of course, this time around the earlier arriving flight got delayed leaving Rob and Amber as one of the last 2 teams to arrive in Chile, and yet they still managed to leap frog every one and reach the pit stop first.

Because the next flight put them all on the same plane. So this was an episode with two different flights involved but the second was was such that only a complete meltdown in the board room would require separate flights on the second leg.


It's not a big deal, even if they immediately deflate it, the show is generally good at generating excitement (in me) in the individual stages I just find it disappointing how often (and no, it isn't every time) that excitement isn't carried over to the next stage.

If you are worried about grouping...




[Relatively minor spoiler]

No it didn't. Rob and Amber, and whoever the other couple that arrived at the airport rigth behind them, had a different connecting flight that was supposed to have arrived at the final destination an hour earlier than everyone else. But their flight was delayed. When they saw everyone else getting on the second plane, they tried to beg their way onto it, but no luck and their plane eventually departed 15 minutes after eveyone else's.

Am I misremembering? After the board room, they got on another plane to fly to the copper mine right? Or did they drive there (I was flipping between TAR and the Oscars so I may be confusing details)?

That's the flight I'm saying everyone would have bunched up at again except for a major meltdown in a major meltdown in the boardroom.

Oh shoot, that's right. The delayed flight was before the board room. Reading through a recap, they were indeed all on the same flight out of there. I missed that, probably because I was too busy being amused at Rob and Amber purposely being jerks (rather, Rob being a jerk and Amber failing to play along).

That poor cab driver. Of all the people he had to deal with, he had to experience Charla and Mirna go "el polo loco" on him.

It was probably the saddest, most hysterical moment I'd ever seen in all the seasons of the race. :D

Yeah...those moments (also known as "equalizers") can be a pain...especially when more than one occurs. But, even then, there are ways that teams can get ahead. Positioning for places in line, or even on the plane to the destination can make a huge difference. I remember in season 4, Reichen/Chip and Kelly/Jon were neck and neck in the finale, and because Reichen/Chip were seated at the very front of the plane, and Kelly/Jon were a few rows behind them, Reichen/Chip had a slight lead when it came to leaving the plane and the airport first...and every little bit helped...especially since Reichen and Chip were eventually the winners of the race.

I know it helps and ultimately is for the best of the shows finale (if the winners were five days ahead of second place, not so interesting). But still, the battle for who can get off an airplane fastest isn't all that interesting to watch.

No, but watching someone yank someone else's carry on out of the overhead is.