Honestly glad you were able to embark without undue hassle, especially given that your aisle-mate made the rest of the flight unbearable. But I have to take exception with the idea of trust as a basis for airline security. Trust leads to complacency & complacency is what led to the 9/11 hijackings. After all, a nail file here, a pocket knife ... what's the harm, really? And then the planes are hijacked ... okay, we'll negotiate when they arrive at their destination. Who'd imagine they were being used as flying bombs?

That said, extra scrutiny has got to be random.

Anything else puts all of the passengers & crew at risk. Picking out people of color? No. Most hijackers have been white. But positive profiling? Perhaps that is what allowed Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board in spite of bulk around his midsection caused by the plastique with which he planned to detonate the plane?