Plot hole: The coroner found the ticket stub in the throat of the guy whose tongue was cut out, he died in the ER. The ER staff would have have found the ticket stub while trying to save his life. With the tongue being cut out they would have opened up his mouth to stop the bleeding.
Continuity mistake: At the start, when Mac is on the flight, he's holding a newspaper while the flight attendant walks toward him, but it cuts to a closer shot and the newspaper is instantly different as the flight attendant tells Mac he has an urgent call.
Chosen answer: Probably to broaden the scope of the show's plot and give the audience a chance to see the characters in a different setting, People act differently at home from the way they do at their workplace. By the ninth season, the characters would have become overly familiar and predictable. It gives the writers a chance to do something different with them.
raywest ★