And this is, of course, another symptom of people valuing money more than time when it comes to air travel. Why are flights usually infrequent? Because airlines fly large airplanes less frequently rather than small airplanes more frequently, because it's cheaper. Why does it cost a lot of money to change your flight? Because airlines run their aircraft at close to 100% capacity, because it's cheaper.

Cut the average airliner size in half, increase the flight frequency by four, and average 50% full, and you'll have no problem missing a flight and getting on a later one. You'll also pay 3-4x as much for the ticket, of course.