Cheap airplane tickets and great prices on discount hotel rooms make travel more attractive. The challenge these days is how to secure cheap fares and then feel secure when traveling.
The odds are greater that you will be involved in a fatal car accident than have to deal with terrorism on a plane. Nevertheless, the public keeps looking to the government to take the steps necessary to make flying truly safe.
The challenge here is that terrorists only have to be successfully one time whereas the government has to be successfully every time.
Advanced image scanners will not identify objects hidden in a bodily orifice or covered by folds of skin in an obese traveler.
Pat downs are frequently useless because of government rules which spell out where screeners can put their hands and how often they can pat down passengers. When faced with a sophisticated terrorist who is expected to be patted down when going through security any pat down that makes the traveler not feel violated and embarrassed after is ineffective. Except in extreme circumstances we probably wont expose travelers to such a thorough procedure.
Body scanners and pat downs, when deemed appropriate, can help, but there is no one best approach to fighting terrorism.
Terrorist techniques are constantly changing and we will continually need to come up with new ways to thwart what will be coming at us.