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Thread Number: 4282
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Original Message
"Airline tickets and such"
Posted by jbug on 03-31-14 at 04:58 PM
It's been mentioned over and over about the teams actually having to buy 4 tickets instead of just 2 so production can stay with them.

I've been thinking about the pre-arranged flights. Maybe TAR books the tickets for the production crews in advance? Of course they wouldn't know the names of the production crew that would arrive for each flight but is it possible they could arrange to "reserve" a number of seats for crew?

Also with all we hear about security, and with normal travelers having to show up at the airports an hour or more before their flights, it's interesting that the racers can get to an airport and seem to jump right on a plane.
I guess watching them go through customs and security would be boring but it is part of the race.


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Messages in this discussion
"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by michiganlargefan on 03-31-14 at 06:28 PM
The only time I really remember Customs being shown and mentioned was TAR2 leg 3.
"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by Molaholic on 03-31-14 at 08:23 PM
We already know that many times racers get the benefit of a dedicated counter line at airports, so I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out certain security measures are given special treatment as well.

I also suspect that the dreaded "flight is full" is often a production decision.

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by kingfish on 04-01-14 at 08:16 AM
LAST EDITED ON 04-01-14 AT 08:17 AM (EST)

Whenever I travel I elbow my way past other travelers to get to the ticket agent and tell them that I'm on TAR and have to get a seat near the door on the next fastest flight to wherever.

And whenever I take a taxi I tell the driver "Fast! Fast! Fast!" and "Pass those guys!", and "I'm in a race with other teams and there will be an extra buck if you can get me there first".

And when filling up at gas stations I always yell "Green Green Green!" and push other cars out of my way.

OK, I don't do these things, I just live in my fantasy world while waiting patiently in line, or drowse in the back seat of the cab. Even in my fantasies I'm a cheapskate.

I've always wondered why they don't show them going thru customs. That's a major delay in international travel, and has surely been a source of frustration for some teams. However there is probably a prohibition against filming customs agents at most airports.

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by starshine on 04-01-14 at 10:03 AM
Personally I would love to see them go through immigration. What is the porpoise of your visit? on a race? Yes I see... Janice get the rubber gloves

I was once put in the naughty room by US immigration, and had just about reconciled myself to a fundamental experience when they released me.

And once on bringing about a k worth of clothes back I went into the red channel, they seemed most unimpressed, charged me 70 squid and told me to p*** off, that 5 minutes is probably the longest I have ever spent in customs

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by PepeLePew13 on 04-03-14 at 04:18 PM
Don't forget to add "Rapid-o! Rapid-o!" or adding -o to almost every word while in a foreign country. Ahh, Mirnglish.


Yeah you always see the Racers taking off at the same time from some airport door - you'd think they would be scattered all over the plane and exiting at the same time, but no, they're always bunched together on the plane. So, whenever they arrive, they'd be herded off to some room to clear customs, then bunched together behind some door for the cameras to catch them taking off.

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by AyaK on 04-14-14 at 04:19 PM
Wow, I'm amazed that, for a change, I actually have useful information on this topic.

First, TAR does indeed prebook sometimes. You'll see that whenever you have two-tier flights out of a city. Some of that is caused by the airlines refusing to permit prebooking of enough seats to accomodate everyone.

In addition, TAR generally requires teams to go through travel agents now, because they won't permit booking to be done directly at the airport except for nonstop flights. That's what happened to Margie and Luke -- they also wanted to try the short connection that Brenchel used, but the airlines wouldn't permit them to book that at the terminal . . . and the TAR producers wouldn't let them use a workaround.

Customs is indeed a nightmare. Back in season 1, though, TPTB at TAR decided that they weren't going to try to film traveling through customs because of the risk that it would be misinterpreted as a hostile action AND because it would dramatize the role of pure, random luck in the show.

Yes, customs can be a huge factor, but that's part of the reason why all the traveling is done at the start of the episode now -- to give teams at least a theoretical chance to catch up after customs disasters (which do happen but are never discussed on the show).

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by udg on 04-14-14 at 11:45 PM
Does that mean that "stuck at the back of the plane" is actually code for "got stuck for 93 minutes in customs?"


Thanks to tribephyl for the sigpic!

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by jbug on 04-15-14 at 11:19 AM

"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by mikey on 04-16-14 at 09:57 AM
If speed of getting through customs is an issue, I wonder if Leo and Jamal have a harder time than the rest of the teams? This may vary by what country they are visiting, but I would think they might be at a particular disadvantage if they made it to the final leg when they would be flying to the US.
"RE: Airline tickets and such"
Posted by featherfish81 on 05-13-14 at 07:01 PM
Rarely have I had a problem at customs - usually it's just hand the person a form, maybe scan your bags. In Greece there wasn't anyone there at all - I just walked right through.

Immigration is usually the problem for me, with the ridiculously long lines and passport checks.