Episodes 11/12 - The Final Episodes

When we last saw our contestants they were in London, England. The show opened up with them getting instructions for their next leg of the journey and sure enough I was right, they were heading to Jamaica. Sadly, they showed a NW Boeing 747 landing in KIN when Phil was talking about the next clue. This was the same shot they used in earlier episodes. They did show an Air Jamaica Airbus A340 flying though (a little redemption).

The first team, Rob and Amber picked up there clue and left at 2:47 a.m. and headed for London-Heathrow International (LHR), destination, Kingston, Jamaica (KIN). Of course, leaving at this time everyone will catch up with them. Seems kind of pointless sometimes to win a leg, but oftentimes there are rewards.

I had been thinking about this since last week. How would they get to Kingston? Naturally, I check my eSkyGuide timetable and they had a few choices, British Airways (BA) from London-Gatwick (LGW) or Air Jamaica from Heathrow nonstop or American Airlines connecting via Miami, Florida (MIA). Actually they had many connecting opportunities if they wanted to use multiple carriers. But I think Air Jamaica were the sponsors of this particular round as they showed the Air Jamaica A340 flying when they mentioned that the teams had to fly to Jamaica. I can't quite remember if the instructions said to fly from London to Kingston or from London-Heathrow to Kingston.

The BA flight is seasonal and does not operate at the time of year I think this was filmed.

Well, they got to Heathrow and of course at that time of the morning there are no flights to Jamaica. The only flight apparently was JM2 at 12:40 p.m. This flight actually goes to Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) and then continues on to Kingston, arriving at 7:15 p.m. I am assuming that this was filmed in November last year; not sure. Otherwise, the flight times are slightly different.

They arrived in Kingston at night and headed for the beach where they had to do their next task a limbo. This determined what time the next morning they would have to leave.

It was quite an adventure ad Rob and Amber got pulled over by the Police and Uchena and Joyce who had the lead had a flat tire and ended up losing the lead.

We actually got to see a lot more of the airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) as Uchena and Joyce was the last to finish at the last pit stop and were stripped of all their belongings. So they had to go to the airport at about 2:45 a.m in the morning after begging a local guy a drive. at the airport, they asked customers who were at the airport way too early for money. they were unsuccessful at first, but eventually as the morning wore on they got luckier and amassed some money.

Once the teams completed the day's task which was to collect 50 onions and take them to a Jerk Pork stall and cut them into small pieces, it was time to fly to San Juan, Puerto (SJU) from Montego Bay (MBJ). The producers then showed an American Airlines Boeing 757 taking off and landing in what I guess was Montego Bay and San Juan.

Now, here is where the show took a great leap. There is no jet service between Montego Bay and San Juan, Puerto Rico. To do this, you must first go to Miami, Florida (MIA) and then take another plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico. So this is what all three teams had to do.

Rob and Amber were the first at the airport as Air Jamaica JM23 was leaving for Miami. They tried to buy tickets and the agent told them that due to security reasons they could not get on the flight. at 9:15 a.m. They were furious and if looks could kill... Of course the Air Jamaica employees, kept their steadfast look and said No.

So he ran over to the American Counter and got a ticket on the AA858, the 9:54 a.m. flight to Miami. AA858 is usually the first flight out, at about 8:01 a.m., but they were in luck as the agent said it was delayed and was leaving at 9:54 a.m. Otherwise they would have had to wait for the next flight and Ron and Kelly would have caught up with them.

Of course they showed an Airbus taking off from MBJ (wrong) and a Boeing 757 landing in SJU. Geez...

For the second flight with Ron and Kelly, took AA1152 and then connected to AA1299. They showed a Boeing 757 taking off for second flight and a Boeing 757 landing in SJU, which is totally plausible so they did good there.

Finally, Uchena and Joyce took the 4:58 p.m. AA flight. They got lucky as this was the last flight that would properly connect to SJU. The producers showed a 757 taking off and another landing in SJU. OK there.

In true Amazing Race style, they all met up in San Juan, actually Aguadilla so they could jump off a bridge. After that, they were to board a plane to MIA.

At the airport, Rob got there first and was able to get on the earlier flight after buying a ticket for the 11:15 a.m. and then standing by for the 10:00 a.m. He and Amber got on and they closed the door on the Airbus A300, pulled the gate and then Uchena and Joyce asked if they could get on and the Captain said Yes. Go figure...

They then showed an American Airlines Boeing 757 taking off and landing in Miami, sigh...

Once Ron and Kelly showed up, they got on the Boeing 737-800, which they showed, but end up showing a Boeing 757-200 landing in Miami.

That was the last aviation event of the show as the three teams tried to get to Benet House in Fort Lauderdale for the finale.

Congrats to Uchena and Joyce for outwitting Rob and Amber to win the $1M! Bad on CBS for having really bad continuity throughout the show and having viewers having to try and figure out the aviation aspects of the show. I think that a better job of that could be done.

Looking forward to the next one.