Archive > The Amazing Race 15 Spoilers
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apskip:
I expect that World Race Productions has edicted that all teams take the same flight combination from among these 4 flight combinations to get from Prague to Las Vegas:
Leaving Prague at either 1550 or 1625 and going nonstop to Paris-CDG on CSA 4766 or AF4907 or their codeshare equivalents and arriving at 1735 or 1815
Connecting at CDG to AF8 or several codeshare equivalents to go nonstop to JFK, departing 1910 arriving 2110. Then for most cases there is an overnight transfer to Newark, followed by an early morning departure from Newark to various places. Having to transfer from JFK to EWR in the middle of the night on a bus is cruel and unusual punishment, so whether teams are required to do that depends on WRP's view of this (diabolical sneaky way of tiring teams out or not).
Here is the list of airport codes in alphabetical order for the codes (not the cities), the flights taken to get to them and the connecting flight from there to Las Vegas for those connecting cities that arrive from 1pm to 130pm on Friday August 7:
CLT - dep. EWR UA1581 0545 0646 to US1789 1120 1258 (actual arrivla 8/7 was early at 1231)
IAH - dep. EWR CO611 0545 0812 to CO197 1150 1307 (actual arrival 8/7 was 1304)
MSP - dep. EWR DL2721 0606 0811 to DL 2726 1150 1322 (actual arrival 8/7 was 1351)
The one that does not use the PRG to CDG to JFK connection are:
SEA - PRG FRA LH5261 1335 1505 to FRA SFO LH9186 1725 1953 to SFO SEA UA52 UA52 2245 0045 to SEA LAS AS604 1040 1307 (actual arrival 8/7 was 1258)
Chateau d If:
Apskip, You have two different flight numbers and takeoff times for your PRG to FRA. I suspect the one you meant is LH 3261 taking off at 1:55 pm.
I'm having trouble believing that teams would take those flights because if they were to just sit and wait around a few hours at Prague's airport then they could take a flight sequence that lands them at Las Vegas faster than any of your flights!
As Neobie has already pointed out there is this faster flight sequence to take starting on August 6th:
OK 702 to Madrid, 2005-2255
IB 6401 to Mexico City, 0120-0605
MX 990 to Las Vegas, 0710-0900
So why would they choose a slower flight? :duno:
apskip:
Chateau,
You are quite aware of the fact that WRP creates situations where the time of release from the pit stop can create environments for teams to make suboptimal flight decisions. TK and Rachel in AR12 were famous for that.
However, the main reason why teams would not get on the latest and quickest set of flights is lack of knowledge by either a travel agent, airline ticketing agent or racer. If you ask for the schedules for PRG LAS, you would get an array that most certainly does not include any of my flights and also not yours. That is no surprise since we developed them by leg by leg to get the best possible results. Airlines reservations systems do not always do that, particularly if 3 or 4 legs are required or if it is not a "normal" way of going from point a to point B. It would be easy for teams to take a less than optimal routing/schedule.
On the specifics of Madrid to Mexico City, the array of alernative flights offers me these:
IB6403 1250 1805
AM002/UX3221 1430 1945
MX1587 1510 2050
There is no mention of any IB6401, although it is obviously close to a real flight number for a different time.
When I check the Iberia Airlines timetable, there is no mention of IB6401. The only Iberia plane which landed in Mexico City yesterday, a Friday, was IB6403. However, it is possible that IB6401 was terminated between 8/7/09 and 10/2/09. In fact, Flightstats does indicate that flight for departure from MAD 0120 and arrival in Mexico City 0616.
So, you have an obscure though real flight and an obscure route. How could people miss it? Easily. I did and I did an exhaustive serach of the US and Canadian largest airports but never gave any thought to whether major Mexican airports should be included. Why would a travel agent think of it?
I am not about to toss my above routings and schedules just because they are not the absolute best. We will see what actually happens. The latest departure I was able to develop was 1625. If it turns out that the pit stop release was after 1530 and before 1900 , then the only possible alternative will be your routing.
georgiapeach:
Remember too that last season the routing was pre decided. While the racers were not aware of it, when they requested a flight to Hawaii, the booking agents ALREADY had their names on the list. Suggesting to me that even if there was a team who discovered a better flight...chances are good they would not have been able to take it.
theschnauzers:
I would think, or at least hope, that teams would try to get the fastest possible connection that allows them to clear US customs before they reached Las Vegas. Is there anything that fits that scenario and gives the teams time to get to where and when they were seen in Las Vegas?
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