It's a 30 minute ride.

Try LA to Sydney in coach.

Right, but the Hyperloop journey as proposed is 35 minutes long. It seems a reasonable trade-off to me.

And at a cost of ~$20. That's pretty good.

That cost is the infrastructure cost, amortized over a long time, not counting R&D, maintenance, marketing, ticketing, and various personnel costs, assuming it's near capacity.

Translation, it's going to cost more than $20.

Even if it costs $100 for one way, it's still cheaper than plane, and you save an hour on travel time.

Also consider this is bus-tier people moving, not even train. You just have small individual units moving along one track. With even passenger rail, you have to have set departure times measured in at least 10 minute blocks, something like this could have a departing train every 5 minutes and you could go through a turnstable the same way you get on a subway.

Plus the 2 hours spent at the airport in security, waiting, and getting baggage at the end.

Really? As a European I don't find the backseats of most American cars cramped at all.

Plus, with a car you'd have a 7-8 hour journey to look into.

And with an (equally cramped if not worse) plane you'll have more traval time than in this scheme, if you include waiting to depart, the lengthy procedures at the airport and getting to the airport in the first place.

Yet still tolerable for a half-hour journey.

And yet somehow people manage to ride in them for 30-minute trips.