I would have thought it would be SOP every time to visually check the cockpit as mentioned, and also there is no real point having a 'surprise' or tactical advantage by being unseen by any potential terrorists. Surely the visible threat of action is worthwhile to potentially resolve a threat situation. And even an F3 should be able to take an airbus without creeping up on it??
Seems that what happened is probably how any sensible airforce would approach the problem. Regarding the risk of detonation to the fighters, I would hazard a guess that a hijacker or terrorist uses a small bomb to cause the failure and hence destruction of the plane, not some hollywood 'plane blows up and takes fighters with it' huge bomb which would no doubt be quite difficult to get on a plane???