No matter how fast the planes can fly, if you spend more time waiting in line at the airport, or sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off than you do in the air, then taking the train or driving yourself makes more and more sense. And what good does it do you to fly from LA to New York in an hour if you still have to spend two hours in traffic on the freeway on your way to and from the airport?

Remember the Concorde? It became an expensive toy, a luxury, for rich people, developed at public expense with the tax dollars of those who would never be able to afford a ticket. No one NEEDS to cross the Atlantic in two hours. Its a solution looking for a problem. The Elon Musks of this world have a tendency to ignore the true costs of their progress.

I'm all in favor of reusable spacecraft IF it cuts costs and leads to more space exploration. But I want to see a system in place and saving money before I give it my blessing. These sound like the same promises they were making for the Space Shuttle.