I shall tell you the benefit, and the reason why I had not used that login-direct-from-front-page: security. If you are going to be doing web browsing and especially buying things online, you need to be cognizant of both the "http:" vs "https:" in the Location bar, as well as the little padlock icon in the status bar of your browser. The front page of United is not a secure site - it does not use HTTPS (stands for "secure HTTP" - the general term used is SSL encryption). Why should you care? It means that anyone sniffing the network between you, across the Internet through many routers, and United's server could easily capture your MP number AND password. By clicking "Login" now, or "Mileage Summary" in the past, you are redirected to a secure form, where you can enter that information and be sure that the only server that can decrypt the information is United's server.