I know, it's easy to be the arm chair critic....but I have seen a pax get busted for smoking on a flight into KLAS 4 in 2006, 2 marshalls did not sit with the passenger for the remainder of the flight and no F16 escort.
Maybe I am missing something here?
Well, perhaps the KLAS smoker did not joke about attempting to light his shoelaces just three months after a high-profile bombing attempt. Being Caucasian would have been a plus.
Were marshalls even aboard? I don't believe there are enough sky marshalls to cover
every flight in the US. On the other hand, if I remember correctly, one of the stipulations of reopening KDCA after 9/11 (in addition to the 30-minute potty rule) was that all flights in and out were to have sky marshalls aboard. Whilst other aspects of the marshall programme are understandably classified I believe that aspect was well publicised.
Whether or not that's still the case I don't know and is also I'm sure "classified."