47q, Absolutely agree! I would go further and say that if the Captain followed your advice, it would have given the FO the opportunity to bring up something the Captain may not have himself considered (traffic, airspace boundary, wind direction, current vs maximum level, etc, etc)
In my book, the sarcastic comment by the first officer was clearly and deliberately designed to stir up the captain and the first officer is to be condemned. It doesn't matter one iota whose "leg" it is, the captain was perfectly in his right to direct the first officer to turn the aircraft towards a clear path to avoid potentially severe weather. Despite what the aficionados of CRM may like to think, it was never intended that every operational decisions by the pilot in command should be subject to committee agreement. The flight deck is not a democracy. If it was clear that flight safety was compromised by the captain's command decision to avoid weather ahead, then of course commonsense dictates the first officer should speak up.
The first officers cutting remark to the captain displayed not only contempt of the captain's legal authority for the entire responsibility for the safety of the flight, but it was also petulant and childish. Pandering to the ego and childishness of his first officer has nothing to do with the much hackneyed phrase, CRM - or whatever is the latest weasel word to replace that admirable old fashioned expression "good airmanship".
