Author Topic: AR18 Transportation Primary Options  (Read 38458 times)

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Offline apskip

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AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« on: February 12, 2011, 05:55:35 PM »
It's time for another of my attempts to get the transportation schedules for Amazing Race 18 into focus. I have used as the timing of each leg the excellent work done by woden in the front of the TIMELINE thread.  Here is what I came up with:

Leg 1 11/20 depart LAX for SYD
QF12 departed at 2326, but encountered a major problem en route, diverted to Honolulu to land there at 0159 on 10/21 and subsequently in Sydney at 0959 (runway but 1047am leaving airport) 10/22. This had the 8 teams quickest to find the clue in the Palm Springs area playing catchup. It is critical that teams get back into competitive range by getting to the next place (Broken Hill) in time to do a leg and catch the twice-a-week Indian Pacific Railroad.

QF108 departed at 2348  with 3 teams last teams to bring Qantas airplanes to Phil in Palm Springs and arrived 0956 on 11/22

tasks around Sydney

Leg 2 11/22 ZL878 flies SYD BHQ 1820 2010
11/23 ZL9578 0605 0755
ZL9596 0630 0820

tasks around Broken Hill

Leg 3 in order to get on the Indian Pacific Railroad, teams must be ready to go by 1830 on 11/23, which implies a record short pit stop
This train arrives in Sydney at 1015 on 10/24.
Teams must transfer to SYD airport and fly to Tokyo. Choices on 10/24 are:

CX100 1539 2144 SYD HKG, connecting with CX524 HKG 0245 0732 (note - late by about 100 minutes leaving and 92 minutes arriving)

QF21 2204 0613 SYD NRT

tasks around Tokyo

leg 4 Tokyo to Kunming Sat. 11/27
flight choices:
NH5711 NRT CKG (Chonqing) 0855 1515, connecting to MU5722 CKG KMG 1555 1710

CA422 NRT PEK (Beijing) 0900 1200, connecting with CA4170 PEK KMG 1415 1740

NH919 NRT PVG (Shanghai) 0940 1210, connecting with CZ6799 PVG KMG 1420 1745

MU522 NRT PVG 1155 1920, connecting with MU748 PVG KMG 2100 0025

transfer to rail to reach Lijiang, 524 km away on 11/28:
train K9606/9607 dep. Kunming 2200 arr. Lijiang East 0710
or train K9602/K9603 dep. Kunming 2141 arr. Lijiang East 0523
less likely:
train 5652/5653 dep. Kunming 0822 11/28 arr. Liang East 1956

tasks around Lijiang

leg 5 Lijiang to Kunming 11/30
train K9601/9604 dep. 0810 arr. 1542
or train K9610/9611 dep. Lijiang East 1021 Kunming 1758
or possibly on 11/29 train K9609/K9612 dep. 2110 arr. 11/30 0559

Kunming to Kolkata
The best possible flight in nonstop MU555 KMG CCU 2355 2350

An alternative combination is MU757 KMG KTM (Kathmandu) Wed. 12/1  0830 0915, connecting with AI9414 KTM DEL 1000 1125, connecting with AI112 DEL CCU 1330 1540

leg 6 tasks around Kolkata

leg 7 Kolkata to Varanasi 12/2
Here is where I deviate from what has been reported by woden, as "Teams seen in departure area of CCU (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport) on 12/2  at apx 3:10pm ; Jen/LaKisha booking Kingfisher Airlines flight" is not possible on that day. The reason is that the few flights into and out of Varanasi airport are scheduled early in the day. There is no Kingfisher Airlines flight departing Varanasi at that time. The latest flight is 9W2461 CCU VNS dep. 1105 , stopping in Lucknow and arriving Varanasi 1400.

A team at CCU airport at 3pm will be forced to either take a train to get to Varanasi or do a combination of flights through Delhi the next morning.

tasks around Varanasi

leg 8 Varanasi to Vienna starting 12/3
Choices of flights from Varanasi to Delhi:
IT336 1358 1521
9W724 1530 1707
SG119 1615 1750

Flight from Delhi to Vienna on Saturday 12/4:
OS34 0254 0556

tasks around Vienna

leg 9 Vienna to Vaduz Liechtenstein to Zermatt 12/6 and 12/7
Teams must get to Vienna main rail station for this 713km train journey to Feldkirch across most of east to west Austria:
dep. Vienna 0740 arrive Feldkirch 1509
From Feldkirch teams will want to take a Swiss postal bus to Vaduz about 30 minutes away

tasks around Liechtenstein

After completion of the major task in Liechtenstein, teams will want to go west and then south to reach Zermatt.

First, teams must take another Swiss postal bus to Buchs about 30 minutes away.
then take a IC train leaving as indicated:
dep. Buchs  0710  0805  0910  1012  1110 1212  1310  1412  1510  1910
arr. Zermatt  1152 1314  1352  1514  1614  1734  1814  19??  1952  2344

tasks around Zermatt

leg 10 Zermatt to Rio de Janeiro dep. 12/9 arr. 12/10
This leg starts with an IC train from Zermatt to Zurich flughafen (airport). after every hour a train leaves at 13 minutes after or 39 minutes and gets to the airport at about 3 hours 37 minutes later.

Flights choices Zurich to Rio are:
LX656 ZRH CDG 1640 1755, connecting with JJ8055 CDG GIG 2100 0455+1

AF5109 ZRH CDG 1945 2110, connecting with AF442 CDG GIG 2220 0635+1

LH5777 ZRH FRA 1625 1730, connecting with JJ8069 FRA GIG 2015 0447+1

TP927 ZRH LIS 1905 2055, connecting with LIS GIG 2330 0650+1

LX092 ZRH GRU 2240 0645+1, connecting with JJ8081 GRU GIG 0940+1 1041+1

tasks in and around Rio de Janeiro

leg 11 Rio de Janeiro 12/11 and probably 12/12


leg 12 12/12 It appears that teams get to Sao Paulo airport by late evening on 12/12. Why this is the case is totally unclear, since there are several good flights from Rio (GIG) to Miami:

JJ8056 2208 0352+1
AA904 2225 0348+1

From Sao Paulo (GRU), here are the flights:
AA906 2352 0509+1
JJ8090 0005 (12/13) 0539
AA930 0336 0936 (departed and arrived 90 minutes late)
AA198 1043 1526 (major delay due to reported problems with pilots; teams were switched to AA930)





  

 
« Last Edit: March 28, 2011, 01:57:22 PM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2011, 10:18:23 PM »
Leg 1 11/20 depart LAX for SYD
QF12 departed at 2326, but encountered a major problem en route, landing in Sydney 18 hours late at 0159 on 10/23. This had the 3 teams quickest to find the clue in the Palm Springs area playing serious catchup. I suspect that World Race Productions would have altered the planned schedule in some way to provide some possibility of these teams getting back into competitive range. One way obviously was to have the first leg become a TBC so that teams could get to the next place (Broken Hill) in time to do a leg and catch the twice-a-week Indian Pacific Railroad.

QF108 departed at 2348  with 8 teams and arrived 0956 on 11/22


We know this is not correct.... the flight arrived much closer than that as all teams were seen within an hour or so of each other during the tasks... It is correct that the the first flight, the preferred one, ended up arriving later than the second less desirable flight.

And I can tell you 100% that this leg was a planned TBC...nothing was changed or adjusted due to the flight delay or a favorite team being last.
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Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2011, 11:14:04 PM »
Well now I am all confused......(situation normal). I am going to have to go back and check the sightings thread. I thought that QF12 had 8 teams on it and arrived one hour after QF108 with 3 teams. QF12 had to land in Honolulu to disembark an ill passenger. QF12 should arrived first, but because of the delay, it arrived about one hour later than QF108. Oh well, its not the first time, nor the last time, I have to go a back and check.........cherrio!!
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Offline maf

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2011, 12:15:28 AM »
According to the web QF12 left LAX at 22:26 on the 20th. It diverted and landed in Honolulu at 01:59 on the 21st. It then left Honolulu at 03:39 and finally landed in Sydney at 09:59 on the 21st.

So the flights landed within 3 minutes of each other.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2011, 03:47:00 PM by maf »

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2011, 07:51:20 AM »
I stand corrected. I had looked at the diversion and assumed that the flight continuation from Honolulu would have to leave on 11/22 (and arrive Sydney 11/23), but it was reported to do this starting in LAX:

   2226 Sat. 20 Nov. - scheduled arrival 0800 Mon 22-Nov-2010 (flight diverted, contact airline)
Actual:         01:59 - Sun 21-Nov-2010 (runway)  Note: that this was an error because it is impossible to arrive before the departure.

Now, anyone who is knowledgeable about the International Date Line knows that you must add a day when you cross it east-to-west, so I adjusted the 0159 Sun.21Nov. to the same time on Nov. 23. I had made an error in taking the scheduled arrival time as the departure time.

So, what really happened is this:

QF 12       Qantas Airways    

scheduled dep. HNL 02:45 Nov. 21   actual departure 03:39 Nov. 21   arr. SYD  09:59 Nov. 22

maf was close, but his information on the the date of arrival in SYD appears to be incorrect, as was my original report.

« Last Edit: February 15, 2011, 08:14:22 AM by apskip »


Offline Coutzy

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2011, 07:54:46 AM »
According to flightstats.com QF12 left LAX at 22:26 on the 20th. It diverted and landed in Honolulu at 01:59 on the 21st. It then left Honolulu at 03:39 and finally landed in Sydney at 09:59 on the 21st.

So the flights landed within 3 minutes of each other.

Teams definitely left customs more than 3 minutes apart. The leading teams were waiting on the platform for a train for longer than this.

Offline maf

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2011, 09:10:10 AM »
maf was close, but his information on the the date of arrival in SYD appears to be incorrect, as was my original report.

Yep, I missed the date change there. They landed on the 22:nd.

As for the time difference, looking at it in more detail I see that QF108 arrived at the gate at 09:56. In contrast the time they have for QF12, 09:59, is when it touched down on the runway.  QF108 took 7 minutes to reach the gate form the runway.

So in the best of worlds we can assume that QF12 arrived at a gate 10 minutes after QF108. But there are many unknowns. There could have been gate trouble (not unlikely since they were late). And the passengers of QF12 probably arrived at immigration just after QF108, which could lead to even more delays.

But in the end we are just nitpicking here. I think we all agree that the flights arrived fairly close but the teams on the second flight got the better deal.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2011, 01:41:27 PM »
This is from the Timeline thread by Neobie......

QF 12 to Sydney (via Honolulu), 2226-0959 (scheduled 2225-0800), eight teams
QF 108 to Sydney, 2348-0956 (scheduled 2350-0925), three teams

Sydney Time (11h ahead of GMT)
9.56am: QF 108 with three teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.
9.59am: QF 12 with eight teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.
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Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2011, 09:57:07 AM »
This is from the Timeline thread by Neobie......

QF 12 to Sydney (via Honolulu), 2226-0959 (scheduled 2225-0800), eight teams
QF 108 to Sydney, 2348-0956 (scheduled 2350-0925), three teams

Sydney Time (11h ahead of GMT)
9.56am: QF 108 with three teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.
9.59am: QF 12 with eight teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.


Dr. Rox,

Neobie and you are both unusually reliable sources, but I think you are both mixed up on this. The first plane to depart LAX, QF12, carried the first 3 teams. The later departure, QF108, carried the 8 teams. QF108 with the 8 teams did land before QF12 due to the diversion to Honolulu.

Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #9 on: February 16, 2011, 10:13:18 AM »
This is from the Timeline thread by Neobie......

QF 12 to Sydney (via Honolulu), 2226-0959 (scheduled 2225-0800), eight teams
QF 108 to Sydney, 2348-0956 (scheduled 2350-0925), three teams

Sydney Time (11h ahead of GMT)
9.56am: QF 108 with three teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.
9.59am: QF 12 with eight teams arrives at Kingston Intl Airport.


Dr. Rox,

Neobie and you are both unusually reliable sources, but I think you are both mixed up on this. The first plane to depart LAX, QF12, carried the first 3 teams. The later departure, QF108, carried the 8 teams. QF108 with the 8 teams did land before QF12 due to the diversion to Honolulu.


Well we all will certainly see who is correct come this Sunday night.....
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2011, 10:26:05 AM »
I think our main Timeline is reversed. eeek.

Quote
FLIGHT INFO: QF108 (DEP 11:50pm; ARR 9:56am) for Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara, Jet/Cord, Ron/Christina, Kent/Vyxsin, Zev/Justin, Mel/Mike, Herb/Nate; QF12 (DEP; ARR 9:59am) for Gary/Mallory, Amanda/Kris, Jen/LaKisha

The 8 teams were on QF12 which was delayed. The should have been best but not.

http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,23690.msg575398.html#msg575398

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Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2011, 10:32:02 AM »
I think our main Timeline is reversed. eeek.

Quote
FLIGHT INFO: QF108 (DEP 11:50pm; ARR 9:56am) for Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara, Jet/Cord, Ron/Christina, Kent/Vyxsin, Zev/Justin, Mel/Mike, Herb/Nate; QF12 (DEP; ARR 9:59am) for Gary/Mallory, Amanda/Kris, Jen/LaKisha

The 8 teams were on QF12 which was delayed. The should have been best but not.

http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,23690.msg575398.html#msg575398



Yep
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Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2011, 10:34:40 AM »
Peach,

I am confused now. What is absolutely clear is that QF12 was the first flight scheduled out of LAX and the later to land in Sydney. How could that flight possibly not have the first 3 teams that won the earlier departure time by finding the QANTAS message on paper airplanes first? The 8 teams logically were on the later flight from LAX, which was the earliest to land in Sydney due to the diversion of AF12 to Honolulu. Why is that incorrect?

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2011, 10:40:17 AM »
Who says the 3 teams find the message first? :lol:

The 8 teams are 100% on the diverted flight.
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Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #14 on: February 16, 2011, 10:43:14 AM »
The first 8 teams to find the correct paper airplane got tickets on QF12, the "Winner's Flight." The last 3 teams to find the correct paper airplane got tickets on the "Loser's Flight", QF108. But due to the medical emergency, the "Loser's Flight" and the "Winner's Flight" got reversed. I sure bet that Luke's hand and fingers were exhausted after that flight.

Those of us that were onlline that night, discussed the irony of this happenstance.
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #15 on: February 16, 2011, 10:54:04 AM »
It is a little odd that the top 8 not 3 were rewarded the best flight, that is different from the norm, but yes, that is the way it happened.
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #16 on: February 16, 2011, 11:01:03 AM »
It is a little odd that the top 8 not 3 were rewarded the best flight, that is different from the norm, but yes, that is the way it happened.

It's more the norm for the history of the race......I remember TAR 5,6,7 did it that way and the flights always got mixed up. In TAR6, teams left Chicago headed for Iceland....the two flights that went east to Boston (I think) and DC got delayed by the hurricane. The last flight connection through Minneapolis, got there first. I think the split in TAR6, was 3/4/3 on the flights......but that was a long time ago too.
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Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #17 on: February 16, 2011, 11:16:49 AM »
Neobie collated all the information from the Live Sightings thread in this post #4 on the Timeline thread. I guess woden got confused by the flight reversals.

http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,23631.0.html
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2011, 01:57:31 PM »
Dr. Rox and Neobie were correct on how many teams got on which flight at LAX. I have modified post 1 accordingly.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #19 on: February 26, 2011, 09:34:55 AM »
I want to examine the speculation by Dr. Rox that World Race Productions chartered 2 flights on Tuesaday 11/23/10 to get teams from Sydney to Broken Hill quickly, necessitated by the Indian Pacific train schedule back from Broken Hill to Sydney. Those flights are:
ZL9678 and ZL9596

The numbering system used by Regional Express has only 3-digit numbers for any flights from Sydney, including 2 daily to Broken Hill. If the ultimate destination is Adelaide then a 4-digit flight number beginning with a "4" to Adelaide from a connecting point can happen. If the ultimate destination is Melbourne then a 4-digit flight number beginning with a "3" to Melbourne from a connecting point can happen. There are some 4-digit flight numbers beginning with a "5" elsewhere in the Regional Express system, but no 4-digit flight numbers beginning with a "9". I conclude that Dr. Rox is correct. We should see soon enough.


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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #20 on: February 26, 2011, 09:39:19 AM »
It isn't speculation.We have the sign up sheets.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2011, 08:21:27 AM »
Peach,

Whether they flew Regional Express is not in question (they clearly did). The question is whether they flew charter or regularly scheduled flights. You may have missed Dr. Rox's hypothesis since it is buried somewhere in the ep. 2 thread. It is that they flew charters because those flight numbers were not on the schedule for any other day. My research was to support that hypothesis.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #22 on: February 27, 2011, 08:23:21 AM »
Oh okay! Pretty sure the spoiler guy in Broken Hills at the airport said charter as well.
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #23 on: February 27, 2011, 09:20:11 AM »
The How, Where and When TAR racers were leaving Sydney was in no way speculation on my part. The info came from the racers themselves talking to "boots on the ground" @ the Town Square rally point. FT/BE asked one girl about Rex Airlines and Broken Hill and also Jamie/Cara asked another person. Both teams said they were flying there on charter flights the next morning.

You can see all this in:
Spec thread  about posts #264-312
Live Sightings thread   about posts #260 to 303
Location thread     about post 66

What wasnt showing up at the time was confirmation in the different flight data sites people normally check. The flights were first found in the Kingston International Airport flight departure lists, long before they showed up in flightstats.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2011, 09:24:12 AM by DrRox »
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #24 on: February 27, 2011, 09:21:29 AM »
Thanks! I was thinking we had some more info somewhere. :lol:

But love all the research too!
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #25 on: March 01, 2011, 01:37:05 PM »
Oh okay! Pretty sure the spoiler guy in Broken Hills at the airport said charter as well.

I have been thinking about this. There is a flight out of Broken Hill to Adeladie at approx 630pm with a makeable connection from Adelaide to Sydney late night. If those production people were not needed in Sydney at the train station, then they could connect with JL772 to Narita on the morning of Nov24 at about 920am. I would think this group would be production people that supervise setting up the detour-route markers. As soon as they got their assignments cleaned up and any gear stored and out to the airport. Also I would think the people in charge of doing the post leg confessionals would have plenty of time to complete their task and catch the 630 flight. I would think the only production people left in Broken Hill would be the production assts that were assigned to herding around the racers and they would ride the train too. I would think that any production personal that were going to take care of the Pit Stop release at the Sydney train station would just ride the train, but, as mentioned above, they could have flown through Adelaide.

I would think that people like BVM, etc would have made the 125pm flight with Phil to get to Japan with a 24 hour head start to make sure the set ups, for the Japan leg, were complete.

Since it appears the tasks in Japan cover a pretty fair amount of distance, I would think that Phil would hit the ground running and do his standups while the teams are in Sydney waiting for their flights. That way Phil could then get a good nights rest at a hotel fairly close to the Japanese Pit Stop and wouldnt really have to leave till notified of teams approaching the Pit Stop. After the last team checks in, he could head to Narita for flights to Kunming or Lijiang if he is not needed for any standups in Kunming. If time is availabe between flights, he could possiblily do some of his Kunming standups before even going to Lijiang to do his standups there. 
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #26 on: March 01, 2011, 03:25:11 PM »
Following the sighting by Tombc52, the analysis by Apskip and DrRox, and a trip I just took to both Liechtenstein and Zermatt, here's the itinerary I'm confident LaKisha/Jennifer were on the afternoon of 7 Dec:
IR 1776 from Sargans to Zurich, 1239-1348
IC 826 from Zurich to Visp, 1402-1602
R 249 from Visp to Zermatt, 1625-1734

Sargans is one of the two Swiss Rail stations that serve Liechtenstein, but the other one, Buchs, would not involve the sisters travelling on the Chur-Zurich train on which they were sighted.

If there was a normal Pit Stop (as opposed to a rolling Pit Stop or a TBC) in Vienna, teams would necessarily have flown to get to Liechtenstein. Herbert/Nathaniel were seen racing in Vienna at 11.30am on 6 Dec. If there is a normal Pit Stop that lasts 12h or more, they will not be able to make the last train to Feldkirch (Austrian jump-off point to Liechtenstein) at 11.56pm. The first train option for the next day is a direct, from 7.14am to 1.49pm. However, this is incongruent with the sisters leaving Liechtenstein more than an hour before, before 12.39pm. Teams in this scenario therefore must have flown between Vienna and Liechtenstein.

The first possible itinerary is:
AA 8094 from Vienna to Zurich Airport, 0736-0846
IC 716 from Zurich Airport to Zurich, 0913-0923
IC 565 from Zurich to Sargans, 0937-1032

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #27 on: March 01, 2011, 03:49:30 PM »
Good work, Neobie! :hearts:
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #28 on: March 01, 2011, 04:20:37 PM »
Neobie,

You are assuming that LaKisha and Jen had complete information and took the most efficient route. since I believe that the Buchs route must be essentially the same the way through Zurich, I believe that if they did what the eyewitness reported (and I am not disputing that). My analysis assumed a start from Feldkirch at 1130am has them arriving Zermatt based on this:
POSTAL BUS arrives Buchs 1200
IC train departs Buchs 1212
train arrives Zermatt 1734
« Last Edit: March 02, 2011, 11:11:35 AM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #29 on: March 01, 2011, 09:29:05 PM »
DrRox...sorry I am swamped at work and have not been able to search for the BHills email. But I THINK there was info that "production" including Phil was flying out that afternoon (while the teams were waitng for the train} and IIRC it was in two flights.

Will see what I can find but prob not until Thurs.
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #30 on: March 01, 2011, 11:07:36 PM »
DrRox...sorry I am swamped at work and have not been able to search for the BHills email. But I THINK there was info that "production" including Phil was flying out that afternoon (while the teams were waitng for the train} and IIRC it was in two flights.

Will see what I can find but prob not until Thurs.

Dont worry Peach. I think the two flights are worked out. I do not think they were charters. There are no strange flights in the system, like the two flights getting to Broken Hill. They can actually use scheduled flights to get back to Sydney.

First one is ZL863  BHQ to SYD @ 125 pm arriving in Sydney at about 6 pm. This would have Phil and his personal crew, BVM and other top dogs and probably the task supervisors......They arrive in Sydney in plenty of time to catch QF21 at 1000 pm to Narita. Gives them 24 hours lead time to do standups and make sure the tasks are set up correctly. This flight time really matches the midday/early afternoon sun in Phil's diary video.

Second one is ZL4883  BHQ to ADL @ 605pm, then XM7053 ADL to SYD @ 815pm. They can then catch JL772 to Narita@ 915am, arrving @ 456pm. I would suspect the lower level production crew on this one. For instance, the guys that film the confessionals and any other crew that would not be needed for the Pit Stop release @ the train station in Sydney.

Train to Sydney @ 630 pm. Race teams and their camera/soundman, 2 or 3 production assts to keep the racers corraled and maybe a couple of battery techs to make sure the batteries are all charged. This could also be done while teams are hanging out all afternoon at that cafe.

So looks good to match your info on "two flights."  Just not charters, but regularly scheduled flights.
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #31 on: March 02, 2011, 12:35:46 AM »
Oh very nice!! Looks good to me!
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #32 on: March 14, 2011, 08:03:02 PM »
Got to see lots of Hong Kong Airport being passed off as Kunming today! :lol:

Here are the flights and trains teams took:

Zev/Justin, Gary/Mallory, Ronald/Christina, LaKisha/Jennifer, Herbert/Nathaniel, Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara
  NQ 909 (0951-1355) to Hong Kong Intl Airport, Hong Kong
  HX 247 (1705-1855) to Kunming Intl Airport, Kunming, Yunnan, China
  Taxi to Kunming Train Station, Kunming
Ronald/Christina
  L9032 (2050-0538) to Lijiang East Train Station, Lijiang, Yunnan
Zev/Justin, Gary/Mallory, LaKisha/Jennifer, Herbert/Nathaniel, Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara
  K9606 (2216-0633) to Lijiang East Train Station
Kent/Vyxsin
  OZ 103 (1530-1756) to Incheon Intl Airport, Seoul, Korea
  MU 2004 (2210-0135) to Kunming Intl Airport
  MU 5951 (0701-0743) to Lijiang Airport, Lijiang

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #33 on: March 14, 2011, 08:18:08 PM »
Got to see lots of Hong Kong Airport being passed off as Kunming today! :lol:

Here are the flights and trains teams took:

Zev/Justin, Gary/Mallory, Ronald/Christina, LaKisha/Jennifer, Herbert/Nathaniel, Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara
  NQ 909 (0951-1355) to Hong Kong Intl Airport, Hong Kong
  HX 247 (1705-1855) to Kunming Intl Airport, Kunming, Yunnan, China
  Taxi to Kunming Train Station, Kunming
Ronald/Christina
  L9032 (2050-0538) to Lijiang East Train Station, Lijiang, Yunnan
Zev/Justin, Gary/Mallory, LaKisha/Jennifer, Herbert/Nathaniel, Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara
  K9606 (2216-0633) to Lijiang East Train Station
Kent/Vyxsin
  OZ 103 (1530-1756) to Incheon Intl Airport, Seoul, Korea
  MU 2004 (2210-0135) to Kunming Intl Airport
  MU 5951 (0701-0743) to Lijiang Airport, Lijiang

The Hong Kong connection really meshes with the spoiler girl that said she was on a flight to Bali with connection in Hong Kong. She said she interacted with team(s) from Amazing Race. Plus the 3 hours in Hong Kong would certainly give them time to research flights and trains to Lijiang. I dont know if they all took taxis from the airport to the train station. Jenn and Kisha said they ran in the extra videos. They said there werent enough taxis at the airport
« Last Edit: March 14, 2011, 08:38:58 PM by DrRox »
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Offline Goldeneye

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #34 on: March 15, 2011, 12:34:47 PM »
I checked the current train schedules for China and it seems that the L9032 train that Ron and Christina took no longer exists, and this was a very recent change in schedules for Chinese trains.

Note that the 'L' in front of the train number means "temporary slow train," and I am not surprised that the L9032 no longer exists in the current train schedule.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #35 on: March 15, 2011, 04:38:22 PM »
For what it's worth, all the following shots were taken in the Hong Kong Airport I know and love... Note the daylight and the clock that reads 2.03pm.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2011, 04:42:21 PM by Neobie »

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #36 on: March 16, 2011, 11:22:18 AM »
Neobie,

I agree that the photographic evidence of the teams just after their arrival at connecting point HKG airport is conclusive, but the question is why World Race Productions chose to go that way for all teams. Here are 3 superior connections:

Tokyo to Kunming Sat. 11/27
flight choices:
NH5711 NRT CKG (Chonqing) 0855 1515, connecting to MU5722 CKG KMG 1555 1710

CA422 NRT PEK (Beijing) 0900 1200, connecting with CA4170 PEK KMG 1415 1740

NH919 NRT PVG (Shanghai) 0940 1210, connecting with CZ6799 PVG KMG 1420 1745

Each of those was scheduled to arrive one hour to 1.75 hours before HX247. Why? The only reasons I can think of are Bunching (not a real issue because the shuttle bus in Lijiang was going to force this) and lack of seat availability. 
« Last Edit: March 16, 2011, 11:25:32 AM by apskip »

Offline Neobie

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #37 on: March 16, 2011, 12:10:48 PM »
Perhaps WRP was cleared only to get their cameras through Kunming Airport, and hence wanted to avoid going through Chinese customs at Shanghai, Chongqing, etc? Hong Kong and Seoul are probably the two airports outside of SE Asia and China that serve Kunming.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #38 on: March 16, 2011, 12:13:54 PM »
I was thinking they just didn't want the teams there too soon...to have too many options to go on?
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #39 on: March 22, 2011, 02:39:00 PM »
I find it useful to maintain a running log of the actual transportation used by the teams, with all the unused options eliminated and the delays incorporated:

Leg 1 11/20 depart LAX for SYD
QF12 departed at 2326, but encountered a major problem en route, diverted to Honolulu to land there at 0159 on 10/21 and subsequently in Sydney at 0959 (runway but 1047am leaving airport) 10/22.

QF108 departed at 2348 and arrived 0956 on 11/22

Leg 2 SYD BHQ
11/23 ZL9578 0605 0755
ZL9596 0630 082

Leg 3 in order to get on the Indian Pacific Railroad, teams must be ready to depart Broken Hill by 1830 on 11/23
This train arrives in Sydney at 1015 on 10/24
Teams must transfer to SYD airport and fly to Tokyo. Choices departing 10/24 and arriving 10/25 are:

CX100 1539 2144 SYD HKG, connecting with CX524 HKG 0245+1 0732+1 (note - late by about 100 minutes leaving and 92 minutes arriving)

QF21 2204 0613+1 SYD NRT

I am not certain of this, but logically the pit stop in Kurihama should be an extended one due to double legs before and after it.

leg 4 Tokyo to Kunming Sat. 11/27 Mandatory flights NQ909 NRT HKG 0951 1355 connecting to HX247 HKG KMG 1705 1917
Kent/Vyxsin don't get to Narita in time and take OZ103 NRT ICN 1530 1756 connecting to MU2004 ICN KMG 2210 0135+1

transfer to rail to reach Lijiang, 524 km away, on 11/28:
train dep. Kunming 11/27 2050 arr. Lijiang East 0538
OR train dep. Kunming 11/27 2216 arr. Lijiang East 0633
OR Kent/Vyxsin forced to fly MU5951 KMG LJG 0701 0743

leg 5 Lijiang 11/28 to Kunming 11/29:

train dep. Lijiang East 11/28 1905 arr. Kunming 0530 11/29

leg 6 Kunming to Kolkata depart and arrive 30 Nov. KMG CCU MU555  2355 2345
« Last Edit: March 28, 2011, 01:58:18 PM by apskip »

Offline Goldeneye

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #40 on: March 24, 2011, 01:44:58 AM »
apskip, I think the train left Lijiang East at 1905 for Kunming, since Margie and Luke stated 7:05pm in the episode.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #41 on: March 24, 2011, 06:30:05 AM »
goldeneye,
Thanks for your eagle eyes. I missed that typo. You are correct that the departure was at 1905 (705pm).

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #42 on: April 01, 2011, 07:33:23 AM »
I want to take up the question of the penalty that Kent and Vyxsin received for missing the "required" flight from Tokyo Narita to Kunming. All the grousing by other teams that they should have been penalized more heavily is ridiculous in my opinion. Kent and Vyxsin suffered by taking a flight almost 6 hours after the other teams and arriving in Kunming about 7 hours after the other teams. They then had to wait 6 hours for the 7am flight to Lijiang. The thing that "saved" them was the Hours of Operation waiting for the Shuttle bus in Lijiang, which caused the other teams to wait until 8am before going up to the yak ROADBLOCK. Kent and Vyxsin narrowed their deficit to about 30 minutes and probably finished that leg about 30 minutes behind. The next leg started with a Bunching delay since there was only one logical flight nonstop to Kolkata.

Hours of Operation and Bunching delays are designed by World Race Productions to equalize all the teams. Kent and Vyxsin still had to face a unique 30 minute penalty, which if the dinosaur ROADBLOCK had been easier could have caused their elimination.

I do not want to hear from other teams about how Kent and Vyxsin should have gotten a 24 hour penalty. There was nothing special about the flight combination that the other 8 teams took. It was one of several combinations which could have gotten teams to Kunming or even to Lijiang. It just happened to be the one, probably for capacity reasons having at least 36 available seats on both flights, for which World Race Productions made the reservations for the teams plus cameramen and soundmen. 

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #43 on: April 01, 2011, 08:12:16 AM »
Other teams wanted a stiffer penalty for them because that 6 to 7 hour deficit was wiped out when every team got on the same train back to Kunming. The fact that Kynt and Vyxsin survived was luck on their part. Very similar to the situation with the cowboys in leg one except that they did not do anything worth being penalized for.

Perhaps if the goths had been penalized more heavily they would have been eliminated at the PitStop in Kunming, where the penalty was assessed. If you put yourself in the place of other teams you could understand why they feel that it is unfair that Kynt and Vyxsin wandered all over central Japan for hours and are still on equal footing with the other remaining teams.
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #44 on: April 01, 2011, 08:26:13 AM »
That's not their fault though, that was the way the leg was designed, they let the bunching be too long. And the 30 minute penalty for taking a different flight was standard.

And remember that we have an edited out task here...a required travel agent stop to get the info for the flight. If that task had not been completed I expect we would have seen an additional penalty as well, but since everyone must have done it, it didn't matter, so we didn't get to see it.

If I were another team, yes, I might have been disappointed too. But it was how the leg was designed and not the Goths that was the problem.
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #45 on: April 01, 2011, 08:33:16 AM »
I agree, it's not their fault that they were not eliminated. It's just a part of the crazy twists this year. The other teams do have an understandable reason to be frustrated, but at the way the game works not Kynt and Vyxsin. (Unless they like Ron are getting irritated at them for their repetitive lying.)
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #46 on: April 01, 2011, 08:51:52 AM »
I want to take up the question of the penalty that Kent and Vyxsin received for missing the "required" flight from Tokyo Narita to Kunming. All the grousing by other teams that they should have been penalized more heavily is ridiculous in my opinion. Kent and Vyxsin suffered by taking a flight almost 6 hours after the other teams and arriving in Kunming about 7 hours after the other teams. They then had to wait 6 hours for the 7am flight to Lijiang. The thing that "saved" them was the Hours of Operation waiting for the Shuttle bus in Lijiang, which caused the other teams to wait until 8am before going up to the yak ROADBLOCK. Kent and Vyxsin narrowed their deficit to about 30 minutes and probably finished that leg about 30 minutes behind. The next leg started with a Bunching delay since there was only one logical flight nonstop to Kolkata.

Hours of Operation and Bunching delays are designed by World Race Productions to equalize all the teams. Kent and Vyxsin still had to face a unique 30 minute penalty, which if the dinosaur ROADBLOCK had been easier could have caused their elimination.

I do not want to hear from other teams about how Kent and Vyxsin should have gotten a 24 hour penalty. There was nothing special about the flight combination that the other 8 teams took. It was one of several combinations which could have gotten teams to Kunming or even to Lijiang. It just happened to be the one, probably for capacity reasons having at least 36 available seats on both flights, for which World Race Productions made the reservations for the teams plus cameramen and soundmen. 

I agree that in this particular case the punishment fits the crime - mostly because K&V did not obtain any advantage by taking an unauthorized flight.

I do worry about the precedence it set though. Lets say that you are one of the other teams that arrived at the airport hours before the assigned flight left. If I knew that I would only receive a 30 minute penalty for taking an unauthorized flight, I would definitely try to get on an earlier flight if it gave me an advantage greater than 30 minutes.
Maybe, in future, the Route Info clues that designate that a specific flight must be used should say something to the effect of "If you miss the designated flight, you may take a later, less advantageous flight and incur a 30 minute penalty.".
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #47 on: April 01, 2011, 09:22:26 AM »
Isn't the standard penalty Time Gained plus 30 minutes?

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #48 on: April 01, 2011, 09:59:13 AM »
It is and that's what was applied, because Kent and Vyxsin certainly had no advantage from taking any later flights. They only had a serious deficit. I think the remarks of the other teams, particularly Jaime and Cara and Margie and Luke who were their chief supporters, should be disregarded as sour grapes.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #49 on: April 01, 2011, 10:15:36 AM »
I concur.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #50 on: April 09, 2011, 07:00:32 PM »
Neobie:

I have been looking at more detail into the routes from Vaduz that end up in Zermatt. I believe you are not quite correct in your statement that through Buchs it is necessary to go to Zurich (possibly with Sargans in between and Bern after Zurich). Eventually all trains have to go to Brig and then Visp to reach Zermatt. I found one out of 4 routes goes direct from Buchs to Zurich and you then change there to reach Visp. It doesn't seem to save time, but is more direct.   

The Chur routes go to Zurich, some changing again at Bern and to to Visp.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #51 on: April 10, 2011, 01:00:35 PM »
Hi Apskip, in my above analysis I only described the journey made by LaKisha/Jennifer, who were seen on a train that was going from Chur to Zurich. As you said, there are direct trains from Buchs to Zurich, so the sisters, if they had started their journey at Buchs, would not be on the train they were on. They must have started riding the train at Sargans.

IR 1776 from Sargans to Zurich, 1239-1348 (LaKisha/Jennifer seen on this train)
IC 826 from Zurich to Visp, 1402-1602
R 249 from Visp to Zermatt, 1625-1734

If they had started at Buchs (false theoretical scenarios):
RJ 364 from Buchs to Zurich, 1212-1320
IC 826 from Zurich to Visp, 1402-1602...
or
R 7955 from Buchs to Sargans, 1310-1325
IC 576 from Sargans to Zurich, 1328-1423
IC 828 from Zurich to Visp, 1502-1702...


It is unsure whether other teams would start from Sargans or Buchs, but if TPTB likes to keep teams close together they may have arranged for everyone to start at Sargans, either by explicit instruction, or by having the moped drop-off be at Sargans.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #52 on: April 11, 2011, 05:35:16 AM »
Dec. 3 or 4

 Teams had the opportunity based on using the airport Kingfisher Airways booking service to take any flight from about 5pm on, yet all except maybe Nate/Herb and Jet/Cord waited for the late Kingfisher flight. Why? I bet it's was due to other flights being unavailable or to being steered to IT604 2038 2352 CCU DEL. Those same booking agents put those teams plus Nate/Herb on the first flight (which happened to be IT608 0909 1120 Kingfisher DEL VNS.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2011, 05:44:43 AM by apskip »

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #53 on: April 12, 2011, 03:04:07 AM »
Teams flew from Kolkata to Varanasi on Dec 2/3.....not Dec 3/4. Peach has said that teams were directed to a hotel on arrival in  Delhi to spend the night. We do know that TPTB require all teams to book in Y-Class. Teams could book on one airline at ticketing and then find an earlier flight and change, much as Mirna/Charla did in TAR11. I do not see any of these racers just sitting around the airport in Kolkata till late at night waiting on that Kinfisher 604 except Flight Time and Big Easy. Since they left the Pit Stop so much later than any of the other teams. Kisha/Jen were the last of the top 6 teams to leave the Pit Stop and they left at about 1413 if I remember correctly.

Jet/Cord booked with Jet Airways and we know from spoiler report that they were inside security at 1510 on Dec 2. That gives them the possibility of three Jet Airways flights to Delhi from Kolkata:

9W 7096    1520-1800
9W 913      1725-1935
9W 2283    1945-2200

We have no clue as to which one they flew on

From Delhi to Varanasi:
9W 723     1030-1145

The other 6 teams booked with Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher's one flight that night from Kolkata to Delhi was:

IT 604      2122-2348

On Dec 3 Delhi to Varanasi:

IT 231     0930-1045

Aside from the 3 Jet Airways flights and the 1 Kingfisher flight, there were 7 other flights on various airlines from Kolkata to Delhi, after the 1510 spoiler sighting of the racers in the Kolkata airport on Dec 2, 2110.

I know if it was me, I would have been going between gates trying to get to Delhi as soon as I could. The sooner I got to Delhi, the more time I would have to rest in a hotel room, in stead of sitting around an airport departure lounge. Also sitting around waiting for that one flight could increase delays incase there was some kind of problem with the plane. This seems like a good set of questions for teams, if any of them get to TARcon.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2011, 03:27:35 AM by DrRox »
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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #54 on: April 17, 2011, 10:38:58 PM »
Since LaKisha/Jennifer made it onto a train that leaves Sargans, Switzerland at 12.39pm, they must have arrived in Feldkirch, Austria (and by extension, left Salzburg) pretty early. Here are the options by train from Salzburg to Feldkirch:
0602-0946
0653-1110 (last possible train for LaKisha/Jennifer)
0802-1146
1002-1349

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #55 on: April 18, 2011, 09:43:23 AM »
I am operating 12 hours behind Neobie, but I concur with the basic train options Salzburg to Feldkirch. I might point out that leaving their cars is not preordained, as autos on that route would be slightly faster at that time of day through rural Austria. It is unclear when the teams give up those vehicles, although just after or just before Feldkirch is as viable as in Salzburg.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #56 on: April 18, 2011, 09:55:14 AM »
So, here are the complete flight options for Varanasi to Vienna on Dec. 5/6:

1. Conservative Route (Jet/Cord) - for Varanasi to Delhi, choice of:
IT336 1355 1517
9W724 (shown in a shot during this episode)1526 1650
AI405 1550 1715
SG119 1645 1820

connecting with OS34 DEL VIE (12/6) 0231+1 0539+1

2. Potentially Safe Route if Seats Available on IC195 VNS BOM (sole flight) 1345 1545 and OS35 0115+1 0504+1

3. Probable Safe Route with any above flight VNS DEL plus OS35 - need connector from DEL to BOM. There are 16 flights leaving Delhi after 4pm and arriving Mumbai before midnight, so the chances are high that some seats were available.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #57 on: April 24, 2011, 10:25:36 PM »
I will have more on the precise rail schedules later, but for now a key point is that any of the first 5 teams knew that they had at least one hour head start on Jet and Cord. The train arrivals in Zermatt from Visp were:

dep. Visp 1625 arr. Zermatt 1734 probably the train that Zev/Justin and Kisha/Jen were on
dep. Visp 1710 arr. Zermatt 1814 probably the train that Flight Time/Big Easy, Kent/Vyxsin and Gary/Mallory were on
dep. Visp 1810 arr. Zermatt 1914 probably the train that Jet/Cord were on

So the teams in the middle group knew, if they bothered to research train schedules (which any on-the-ball team would do) that Jet/Cord had to be one hour behind when they did not show up in Sargans for the same originating train. That gave all of the teams except Flight Time/big Easy the luxury of not having to use the U-turn and have the historical issues associated with its use.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #58 on: April 25, 2011, 09:38:25 AM »
The rail schedule from Salzburg to Feldkirch indicates all teams on the 602am train arriving 949am. With the time to get a safety briefing for their mopeds and about a 1 hour (13 mph for 22km) quickest trip, the fastest teams would be getting to the Castle by about 11am and going down to the bus stop. The buses run about every half hour and given the bus schedule they could not make a 1139am train from Sargans.

I have now analyzed the Swiss rail timetables to determine what logically happened on schedules for the teams. There are 3 groups:

1. Zev/Justin and Kisha/Jen
depart Sargans 1239  arrive Zurich 1348
depart Zurich   1402  arrive Visp    1602
depart Visp      1625  arrive Zermatt 1734

2. Kent/Vyxsin, Gary/Mallory, Flight Time/Big Easy
depart Sargans 1328  arrive Zurich 1428
depart Zurich    1432  arrive Bern   1528
depart Bern      1534  arrive Visp    1631
depart Visp       1710  arrive Zermatt 1814

3. Jet/Cord
depart Sargans 1439  arrive Zurich  1548  (note- consistent with the need to do 44 km round-trip moped more than group 1)     
depart Zurich    1602  arrive Visp     1802
depart Visp      1810 arrive Zermatt  1914

Therefore, Flight Time/Big Easy started in Zermatt with a one hour lead on Jet/Cord.

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #59 on: May 01, 2011, 10:35:54 PM »
I have been searching for an appropriate timetable for the Gornergrat Bahn back into Zermatt with one scheduled time at 1108am. The only match is logically in the timetable for 12-12-10 to 12-18-10:
 http://www.gornergratbahn.ch/en/timetable_tickets/timetables/december/Pages/default.aspx

That misses the actual period  by a few days, but is the only available schedule I can find that has any 1108. That schedule has downward trains from Gornergrat every 24 minutes and it takes 19 minutes from Rifflealp to Zermatt. The relevant train which the first 4 teams caught was 1108 arriving Zermatt 1127. Zev and Justin could have caught either the 1132 dep. Riffelalp and 1151 arr. Zermatt or the 1156 dep. Riffelalp and 1215 arrive Zermatt. They needed to either make up 24 minutes or 48 minutes.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #60 on: May 08, 2011, 09:37:21 PM »
Transportation from Zermatt to Rio

Zermatt is 6km above Tasch, so teams somehow got local transportation (it looked like a tram leaving around 739am) to bypass the Zermatt rail station and go direct to Tasch. The train from Tasch to Visp left at 0751am and arrived Visp 0847. The connecting train left Visp at 0857am and arrived Zurich Hbf at 1058. Next would have been on one of several short connecting trains to Zurich Flughafen similar to departing 1107am arriving at 1116am. Then there was a minimum 5 hour delay until the first of the best flight combinations to Rio departed.  

Flights choices Zurich to Rio are:
LX656 ZRH CDG 1640 1755, connecting with JJ8055 CDG GIG 2100 0455+1

AF5109 ZRH CDG 1945 2110, connecting with AF442 CDG GIG 2220 0635+1

LH5777 ZRH FRA 1625 1730, connecting with JJ8069 FRA GIG 2015 0447+1

TP927 ZRH LIS 1905 2055, connecting with LIS GIG 2330 0650+1

LX092 ZRH GRU 2240 0645+1, connecting with JJ8081 GRU GIG 0940+1 1041+1

I have no idea why teams would have passed up the earlier Swissair flight connecting through Paris to reach Rio at 0455 and a Lufthansa flight connecting Frankfurt to reach 0447 but maybe the earlier flights were full (although I sort of doubt it). It looks to me like World Race Productions told them which flight connection to take, the Air France connection through Paris arriving Rio at 0635 the next morning.

For those who believe based on the purchase of their final tickets at the Iberia Air ticket counter that the connection may have gone through Madrid, let me offer you this:
The only nonstop flight from Madrid to Rio on Dec. 10 OR 11 was IB6025, scheduled to depart and 1200 and arrive at 1940.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 06:12:45 AM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #61 on: May 08, 2011, 09:46:33 PM »
It appears that teams get to Sao Paulo airport by late evening on 12/12. Why this is the case is totally unclear, since there were several good flights from Rio (GIG) to Miami:

JJ8056 2208 0352+1
AA904 2225 0348+1

From Sao Paulo (GRU), here are the flights:
AA906 2352 0509+1
JJ8090 0005+1 (12/13) 0539+1
AA930 0336+1 0936+1 (departed and arrived 90 minutes late)
AA998 1043+1 1526+1 (major delay due to reported problems with pilots; teams were switched to AA930)

However, the times do not match at all and the episode stated that the flight was AA998, which left at 0110 and arrived 0630. Unfortunately, that flight experienced a huge delay, so I understand that passengers, particularly Amazing Race teams, were switched to AA930. There was no way they could arrive by 0630 given the later departure and the delay for AA930. It actually arrived 90 minutes late at 0936. Shame on CBS/World Race Productions for trying to put one over on us!

One final piece of "evidence" is that Miami airport was shown as totally light as teams landed. Sunrise on Dec. 13, 2010 was at 658am. At 0630 it could not have been brilliant sunshine.


« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 06:04:19 AM by apskip »