Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos debate their travel habits in funny on-air spat

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, co-hosts and a married couple of 29 years, had a playful on-air disagreement about their conflicting travel styles during a recent episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark.”

The spat began when Ripa proposed they try an “airport divorce,” a trend where couples separate upon arriving at the airport and meet up again at the gate, PEOPLE reports.

Ripa, 55, initiated the conversation, stating, “you and I have different traveling philosophies, different traveling styles.” She teased Consuelos, 54, about his preference for arriving excessively early for flights, joking that he needs to be there “4 to 16 hours before a flight takes off.”

Consuelos countered, clarifying he prefers to arrive about 90 minutes early.

The bickering continued as Ripa claimed Consuelos gets “irritated” with her at the airport, not with fans who approach him. Consuelos denied this, saying, “I’m irritated with you right now for trying to throw me under the bus.”

Ripa then shared a story about a recent trip when Consuelos’s TSA PreCheck had lapsed.

She said she waited with him in the slower security line out of solidarity, but he became irritated with the delay.

“The line was too slow and he got irritated with me!” Ripa told the audience. “And I said, ‘No no no, this isn’t the part where you’re irritated with me because the line is too long. This is the part where you say, ‘Thank you honey, I’m sorry that I’m making you wait in this line.’”

Consuelos laughed and offered his own version, noting how perspectives can differ after knowing someone for 30 years.

He explained the tension arose from a disagreement over which security line to choose. Ripa retorted that her chosen line was for those with TSA privileges and moved faster, while she was stuck with him getting “violated in this line — and Mark is still irritated with me!” She concluded, “the airport divorce is what we are definitely getting.”

Later in the show, the topic shifted to car washing, sparking another disagreement. As the playful arguments concluded, Consuelos admitted,

“We’re having a day today.” Ripa jokingly replied, “Oh, you are going down.” Consuelos then quipped to the audience, “Just watching married people quarrel on TV. It’s fun! Mom and dad, fighting again!”

This story was written with the assistance of AI.