As far as "bomb jokes at checkpoints" go, the reason you'll get pulled out and held for "special treatment" is not that you might be a terrorist. It's because the security personnel perceives bomb jokes as a lack of respect, and they'll make sure you'll be missing your flight just so you know who's the boss next time.
Anyway, the adjective "explosive" or the verb "to explode", just to take an example, are perfectly legit in conversation, probably even more so when one's talking shop.
Just to make a point: every programmer in the world knows and uses the C function explode(separator, string,[limit]) and you'll find many instances of it in the source code that makes this very forum work - or in the code that flies your plane, for that matter. Should a programmer refrain from reviewing code during a flight on the off chance that some idiot glances at their laptop screen and goes ballistic?
Another few points:
Real terrorist do not ever travel as a group or book their tickets together, and do not ever talk shop when they can be overheard. Not even the terrorist in "24" are that stupid.