*sigh*. The airline industry lost $9 billion last year. Again. Amtrak is always losing money and needs govt support. And an amtrak ticket often costs almost the same as a plane ticket. Only intercity busses - private or public - are cheap. Spending hundreds of billions on a US network of high speed trains will likely follow the airline model - decades and decades of mostly losses and government support. And with more competition, the airline industry losses will skyrocket. They will wind up putting these mass transit trains though major metro areas, where suburbanites will just drive there. Who needs an hour train ride to get to the center of Chicago to catch a high-speed train, when the airlines are NOT in the major cities? Look at things like mass transit. Where Connecticut riders going to NYC are heavily subsidized, when in reality, they should be slashing some routes until only those at least near breakeven remain. so generally, if it isn't heavily subsidized, it is unlikely to be anywhere near profitable. Major American cities are much further apart than the European cities. I would fly, frankly. here is a weird idea. Have Porsche build some pasenger busses, and then set aside one interstate lane between many cities (outside of rush hours) for the busses, to move 150 mph.
I agree! People (especially kids) are bigger than ever before. Not meaning fat. Just bigger. I've got three Sons, and NO way was I going to drive from the East Coast to Vegas two months ago to attend a wedding. We flew, and yes it basically sucked. Cramped seats, grumpy people etc., however, that isn't what got me fumed. The idiots in the seats in front of us were letting this "silent but deadly" gas/farts out about every ten minutes the ENTIRE 4.5 hour flight. My youngest Son and Wife were almost ill. A flight attendant came up with a concentrated air freshner, and sprayed the aisle. People are rude idiots! 20 years ago, the flight attendant would have asked that row "does someone need to use the restroom? You're making other passengers sick." 25 years ago, someone would have fired up a cigar, and blew that row a little payback lol! Oh well. Were living in strange times where courtesy, and putting others before self is an antequated practice, sadly. I look at flying now as "biting the bullet, and hopefully it will be over soon" kind of attitude. I still extend southern hospitality to others on the plane though, helping people get their massively overly stuffed bags out of the overhead, switch seats so people with jumbled up seat arrangements can sit with their family/friends, and say thank you to the flight attendants who hand me a drink. I guess I have to be different. Lol!