I haven't really come to a decision wether to have air marshalls on aircraft yet. I think there are other issues that should be revised before spending HUGE amounts of money having airmarshalls!
I'm not a flight attendant yet but quite familiar with the industry. I'm a cabin attendant on the rail services and we have security officers on the rail services. Most officers are usually armed and undercover. Unfortunately they are always very busy having to deal with threats/breaches. (Nearly every journey). I would definately want them onboard for the safety of customers the crew and security of belongings. Without them we would be lost and have alot of traumatised crew! On the other hand I think flying can be a different situation as we are not constantly stopping picking up customers that haven't been screened.
I believe that beefing up flight attendant security/knowledge and defence techniques would give crew alot more confidence to perform their duties on an aircraft. I think we should have regular training and disciplining.
I also think that there needs to be alot more revising of airport security procedures/aircraft/airside access areas and training that the security staff get. It's only just recently that ASIC card holders are being revised. I could mention alot of areas that in the airport security that are
But I dont think it would be appropriate to list them on a public forum. I think that implementing air marshalls may help protect the flight deck as a last line of defence but the point I guess i'm trying to say is that perhaps we should spend alot more energy into preventing trouble initially before it gets onboard the aircraft!!!!