Air travel can never become a glorified "cheap bus service"... you can't just expect to roll up and "jump aboard". That's how Lockerbie happened. Someone has to pay for the security measures. Airlines have done their bit by installing the enhanced flight deck doors - all that does is to make sure that the pilots employed by the airline are the only ones flying the aircraft. The only people/organisation able to stop nasties ever setting foot on the aircraft is terminal security.
Completely in agreement with coopervane, UK airport security can be a farce. Having passed through several in the course of duty, it becomes quite obvious that standards vary enormously. Worst bit is, nobody can blame the officers themselves, they all do their job well and as per their brief.
If you go to any major US airport, the difference is stark. Passenger suitcases visually checked by humans. Shoes off, belts off etc... and that's just standard measures. If you still beep, you're taken aside and almost strip searched. As Crew, you are treated no differently, sometimes even more harshly. The TSA take no prisoners and good on them. Why can't things be like this over here? If they can confiscate pairs of scissors, why not dis-allow expired temporary IDs?