The average American cannot get past their fetishization of airline travel for long distance, tragically. I had a 45 minute argument in defense of Amtrak/long-distance rail with my roommate as we were driving across several states to PA and we actually wound up getting lost/sidetracked because she kept saying "I just don't understand why anyone would choose to ride a train from Chicago -> LA when flying is the same amount of time & better" and I nearly killed both her & myself in an American tradition - vehicular manslaughter.