> The speed of the vehicle is in many instances utterly
> irrelevant to the time taken by the move itself.
Not at all, and especially in the case previously cited. Because the speed of an airplne is so much higher than that of even the fastest of trains in the best of circumstances, you can eat up a lot of prep time and still come out ahead in the overall trip if the distance is far enough: and SF to LA certainly fills that requirement.
So: a good predictor? Often not; utterly irrelevant? Balderdash.
/jordan