British Airways says my randomly-generated password is invalid

I attempted to create an account on britishairways.com today, but repeatedly failed, receiving the message “Error: The password you have supplied is invalid. Passwords need to be at least 6 characters in length and use a mix of letters (English A-Z) and numbers.”

british-airways-password-invalid

I tried the following passed.pw randomly generated passwords:

  • awseecfejunknyZVWCNQPAVZUTE57264
  • nxmsgnkgqSYHXDPRJRRGGKKTHCE52872
  • edmzuszfecUVWSFHVCBHVBAV84822792
  • vdntgfssatdHMRPZNMWVPTVCBZA32444
  • sgsyejwdapybfjxfewmyMFXBUQCMR968

All of these values exceed the requirements stated in British Airways’ error message, yet all of my passwords were rejected.

I then noticed an information icon (blue circle, white “i”) providing more information about what types of passwords they expect me to enter. This content is from their Password Help page, which said:

Password Help

Passwords must be at least six characters long and include a mix of letters (English A-Z) and numbers. You can also include the following special characters: ! ” # $ ‘ ( ) * + , – . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~.

Make your password stronger:

  • Use a longer password. The longer it is, the harder it is for someone to guess.
  • Include a mixture of capital letters and special characters.
  • Create your own acronym or abbreviation like 1!vCht for ‘I love chocolate’, or use phonetic replacements such as ‘Luv2L#f’ for ‘Love to Laugh’, to help you remember.

Good tips. I’d like to do all of this please (except for the last tip about leet-speak).

According to this content, I should also use special characters and longer passwords. So here’s what I tried next. All of which were also rejected:

  • kyqegnftgxrzhwbpnxKNNGJDKCWNSEXPR2543593.)&)-),:
  • ddhmxaxubmatnkfjtQUFRSSDJJUYNENVFS4585865)-:!?)&
  • suhptvykwqdkeuHYMXATJSKFUNSXQGY853862.))?:.!:/?)
  • tbfusgdaawhfebrsgPKYBQJAQKFDZW76767822243(!/&,./
  • kqydjsghhnmunRPMUCURVCJEKFKNMEZA7942(;@(/&:/&./-

All of these passwords meet British Airways’ password requirements, yet all of them get rejected and prevent me from creating an account. What level of additional length or complexity do you require British Airways? How do I create a password that you will accept?

One reply on “British Airways says my randomly-generated password is invalid”

  1. After many exchanges on Twitter, British Airlines eventually figured out that their password field only accepts 20 characters.

    They should change their error message to say, “Error: The password you have supplied is invalid. Passwords need to be 6 to 20 characters in length and use a mix of letters (English A-Z) and numbers.”

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