I can only say that on closer review, 9 teams were seen, 2 were not. Were they there and out of customs late? Were they not there? Were they on a different flight altogether?
Which teams are we talking about? If I'm correct we are missing photo evidence of 4 teams (Mel/Mike, Gary/Mallory, Margie/Luke and Zev/Justin).
Now, let's consider the possibilities
All 11 teams were at the airport but only 9 (?) were seen OR Only 9 teams were at the airport at the same time. So the other 2 could have been
- sent out as early decoys (seems unlikely though, since they used more decoys later);
- be eliminated teams put on a different flight for lack of space on the plane (but who were still there at the finish line I suppose);
- be eliminated teams that were unable to fly due to loss of documents (very very unlikely but still possible);
- be racing teams, which, in case of a final three, would give another team a pretty big advantage;
- be the only two racing teams left, making it a final two as someone suggested. I think this is possible, I've only been watching TAR since season 12 but I don't remember a time when all three teams looked like having a chance all the way to the end. There was always one left behind pretty soon and hardly appearing on the screen so they may have decided to make it a final 2 to increase suspence.
Do we know anything about the time when the photos were taken? it looks like night in Jet's photo, and evening in Ron and Chris' photo, but the others are much brighter. Are decoys usually sent out before real racers or at the same time?