The comment may have been meant to be be taken as a joke whilst really being true.
Given that radical, religious fanatics have links in the UK and that their indoctrination is literally from the cradle and further that the name of the individual in question is, how can one say, not typically english, I think the airline most certainly did the right thing!
What better cover for a terrorist than as a school boy, or don't you think terrorists would stoop to that?!