Well, I live really close to LAX and I'm not checking a bag, so I'm gonna cut half an hour off that misery estimate. Still, that's about a third the time of driving, and my airfare was a bit less than what round-trip gas would cost. Plus what would I do with a car in San Francisco anyway?
But if there were a train there, it would have to be substantially cheaper than driving, for me to choose that option. If a bullet train that would cut the time in half, tho, I'd choose the train over both flying and driving. I don't think I'll live to see that. Maybe some young whippersnapper will enjoy the ride in 2075.