Must admit to being slightly appalled at the holier than thou remarks being posted here by people pretending to be whiter than white. Oh to be perfect eh!
A similar scenario nearly happened to me when I was checking in for a flight from MCO to LGW last year. When asked if there were any dangerous items inside my baggage my French flying instructor friend who was seeing me off joked: "good job you don't have that rocket launcher in your suitcase still VFE!"
Now my arse nearly dropped and I gave the prat one helluva an evil I can tell you. The check in staff member looked concerned for a moment and then carried on checking my baggage. I don't think she actually heard my mate to be honest otherwise I'm pretty sure it woulda been 'touch-your-toes-time' for VFE that day. Thank god it wasn't persued otherwise I might still be jammed up in the USA or who knows - maybe even Guantanamo Bay!
This Air France pilot made an ill-judged crack just like my French flying instructor mate did. I know it was inappropriate but for someone to post here that they "deserve all they get" is a tad Draconian to say the least. Seems like some security staff are hell bent on coming 'the big I am' when it comes to pilot security which is sad when you think about as it's most probably born out of jealousy at the end of the day.
I'm not saying security should be relaxed for one minute but for gods sake use discretion and be mature about it. I feel sorry for the Air France guy, he'll probably lose his job, house, and maybe even his licence as a result of blurting out an ill thought wise crack.
Very sorry tale indeed and a lesson for us all - SLF included.
VFE.