[logicalmonster]

Would it be nice if planes went faster and you could cut maybe an hour from a cross country flight? Sure.

But to me at least, the speed is the smallest issues with airplane travel.

The bigger issue is that it's just a miserable user experience all the way around: finding and buying tickets, going through security, boarding the plane, eating and being entertained on the plane, sitting in bad chairs, unpleasant bathrooms, and then you get to the general societal increase in mental illness meaning you might have to deal with some onboard drama, etc.

I'd prefer to drive anywhere that's not over an ocean these days even if the flight was at Mach 10.

[randomopining]

They do that so you pay to upgrade whatever pain point you have. Think of all the upper class and upper middle class families that spring for Business for the whole family for their 1-2 yearly big trips. That's a huge profit for the airline. If economy was amazing and only cost a bit more, they would lose a ton.

[ddorian43]

How many hours of driving vs flying are we talking here?

[logicalmonster]

My preferences might deviate significantly from the norm, but I'd gladly take a week-long cross country road trip over a hellish day traveling by air.

[earthling8118]

That sounds just outright miserable. Hellish is how I would describe a week long drive, not a few hour flight. There's surely a lot to improve on flights but it seriously isn't that bad compared to driving and having to exert mental and physical effort on it for so long.

Really what I want is a train. A good set of trains. They should travel at a fast speed and go to many different places.

[carlgreene]

For a week long trip I'll do a 24ish hour drive each way over a flight. Able to bring everything I want, have a car, easily bring the dogs. It's a win all around for me.