Aren't the airlines fun?

Ok, so the good news is that I have been invited to interview at some of my potenital grad schools. The bad news is that flying there is a right pain in the posterior. I seem to remember a day when air travel was easy, and flight times were more than just approximations. Instead, I have to pay three times as much to travel from Little Rock to Atlanta (Atlanta! Not exactly a small airport!) instead of connecting through two or three different cities.

Now normally, connecting wouldn't be a problem, but with the track record I have with Continental and American, I'm pretty sure I would be looking at - at least - a three-hour delay (if they don't just strand me outright). Instead, I can shell out a premium for connection-less flights; I can pay more to ensure that I actually arrive at my destination when they say I will. How did we get to the point that timely, schedule-adhering travel costs extra?!