> private flying really is for the rich. $1700 to fly cross country and it’s still 3 hours longer than flying commercial

You don’t fly New York to San Francisco. You fly Cupertino to Driggs with three friends. The point is connectivity between unconnected points; similar to why we drive private cars.

Also, the article’s entire point is flying is unnecessarily expensive in the birthplace of aviation.

It will take much longer than that, you have to prep the airplane, do planning, refuel and inspect, pee, eat, and everything depends on the weather, is it too hot, too windy, poor visibility, what is the expected weather enroute and at the destination 4 hours from now, are there route restrictions. Still worth it usually.

Yes but on the other hand you can take a trip from LA To Mammoth Lakes with a few friends and get there in a few hours and less cost than driving.

Or fly to Vegas in half the time as driving or fly to Catalina Island which you cant go to any other way than ferry

Not sure if meant seriously or sarcastically. But it seems like a pretty reasonable option to me. Yeah, commercial air travel is super cheap and fast these days, especially for very far destinations. But it has its headaches and downsides too, and plenty of people choose to drive for various reasons even if it's slower and more expensive.

If you have the skills and equipment, it might well be worth the $900-$1700 or whatever. You're also potentially taking 3 other people, and luggage, and avoiding the costs and headaches of big commercial airports and airlines, plus TSA etc.