but they're peanuts compared to how profitable a NY-to-LA in under an hour route

Won't be under an hour, unless we're pulling .2g or so.

More like 80-90 minutes.

Your point stands, however - it would make a bloody mint if it existed. If only from people who rode it just so they could say they did it....

It's worth noting that several recent airports (Dallas/Fort Worth, Montreal, Dulles) each took more land area than a four-lane freeway going between those Dallas and NYC.

Or may be, he could skate along the surface of water too, and finds nothing marvelous about it. You never know who you talk to, on the Internet.