No-fly list is a gross violation of basic human rights; i can't imagine why a relatively conservative U.S. society tolerate that. Worst part of it is that the airlines are private, government should not be able to tell private enterprises who can be their client and who can't. For (real or imaginary) government-controlled airlines, they are OK. I still doubt they do much to counter terrorism, every self-respecting terrorist should have a few fake passports anyways. More of a good tool for bullying dissidents.
As for air travel security overall, i am starting to think what we have in this field now is about what terrorists wanted to achieve: a gross overreaction based on panic.