Yes, I know about the marshals, but as I understood it, they were not on every flight. And I hear your argument about the pre planning, and I would say two things to that:
A: nothing is perfect, including this idea, but it’s a damned sight better than what we have now and
B: we were caught with our guard down on 9-11 - that would not be the case afterwards. I think you’re letting the perfect be the enemy of the much better….
I don’t know if our guard is more relaxed now. I took a flight from Dallas to Portland maybe 2 or 3 years after 9/11. The door to the cockpit was wide open for part of the flight. And it seems the only people the TSA are interested in frisk searching are little kids and old ladies.