[libertylover]

You know, Chris, do you know that it takes four hours and 18 minutes to take the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, and it takes 21 hours to take the train from New York to Chicago. And they’re both about the same distance.”

I did a couple of quick searches for Amtrak vs. flying.

The Amtrak train costs about $90-100 if you ride the 21 hours in an ordinary seat. A "Room" costs about $400-500.

You can fly to Chicago for as low as $39.57 if you're willing to take a layover for a total time of 6 hrs. 53 minutes. (This flight only has a layover of less than 45 minutes but flies New York -> Fort Lauderdale -> Chicago. Get 2 "meals" I suppose though.) A non-stop flight is $110 and takes about 2 hrs. 40 minutes.

[wetickel]

So ... this means that the airlines are paying customers $80 to go to Fort Lauderdale for four hours.