I keep 99% of airplane bookings through Southwest, just because their rebooking system online is so great. Book everything at once, from southwest even if you're not sure you will make that trip. Also book for alternative trips too, since Southwest has a sale right now. I'm pretty sure a lot of people know this, but just in case you don't: if you need to get from LA to NY and Southwest is not giving you the departure & arrivals as desired, try LA >>Chicago then Chicago connection>>NY, or LA>>Las Vegas then Las Vegas to NY.
I gave up on Public transportation unless it's in New York or Boston. For car rental, try Kayak and Expedia (they gave me 2 days car rental at $18/day), Priceline is a waste of time if you're in a hurry, because it requires multiple bidding before you successfully get a deal. For hotel and lodging, go to google Maps, type in the address of the school, then do "find business," type in "motel" or "hotel" as the search word. That would bring up a bunch of nearby hotels you can rent from. I've noticed that sometimes programs don't send you a complete list of hotels in the area, just their preferred places. For cheapest hotel rates, try Sidestep.com (also good for cars rental too). For car rental and hotel coupons, refer to retailmenot.com
It's also helpful to set up an excel file or a Word table that's dedicated to travel & lodging info. If you want to use the file I have set up, just PM me with your email address, I can send you the file I've created. I've found grouping interviews by region is the best way to go, because there have been a lot of flight delays starting in October already.
i hope that helps.
