SuperFlyBoy

About 16 hours ago I was not able to issue/check availability or pricing for India POS, for an ex-BOM flight. (USA POS worked) Also saw this:

R-class and all other revenue class was being shown.

Now, I see the requirement for extra security (not clicking there) and trying to see whether upgrade space is available, but it does not provide it - even for a USA POS!

Not sure if all of this has to do with the password security, but it is truly ridiculous.

Should I simply book on another airline then?

Why do we have to continue to endure this with SHARES?

Edited to Add: Now it keeps showing my not having logged in when pricing a ticket - probably the reason why... grrrr

Edited to Add 2: Hmmm - not even giving me access to my account *or* to update it!!

Edited to Add 3: One has to go into MP -> Account and then you will be prompted for the 5 questions. OMG. (No password update )

Edited to Add 4: Pricing out RT ex-BOM, USA POS, and after selecting outbound flight (now COS showing), got the same thing again:

We are unable to process your request. Please see the message below for details.

We’re sorry, but united.com was unable to complete your request. Please try later or contact united.com Support in the U.S. and Canada at 1-888-491-6573; the U.K., phone 0800 028 5003; elsewhere use the local phone number.

*What* is going on???

Edited to Add 5: Now locked out of account, asking for password hints, but not accepting them - continuing to ask the same questions again and again for password reset!

Edited to Add 6: Switched to Opera from Firefox, was able to get past the password reset questions and log in, finally!

Silver Fox

They have screwed up and that's it.

Exleftseat

That's sort of their standard MO now, isn't?

Richym99

I've had simialr frustrations booking a ticket this afternoon.

The initial login and set up of questions I had no problem with, probably because my original password complied with their requirements. Trying to do a search on flight that I wanted to book though, at every step I was logged out of the system so couldn't see mileage earnings etc. Eventually found the flights I wanted, tried to book and system crashed.

The mobile app had similar issues when I tried to book the same on that media.

It was only when I tried the webisite on my tablet using Firefox that I was finally able to get to make the booking that I wanted.

United must be losing thousands in lost bookings at the moment, because most won't have my patience or tenacity.

skiladyldp

Glad I saw this post. I logged into my account this morning and it was I get a new password but I was too busy to do it. I was going to do it later when I had more time. Now that I see the problems I am going to wait a while.

Virginia

Dub

I am stuck in the security question loop. It keeps asking the same 2 questions over and over again. So I cannot get into the site. Anyone found how to get past this loop, or do we wait for UA to fix this?

dogloverjb

I did the security questions yesterday, don't remember being asked for a password, but used my usual one. It does not recognize my MP number! I then tried my SO's account - did not recognize his MP number. He did not do the security questions at all. Something is wrong with their site. I need to do a booking and now can't because I can't log in! I guess the phone...

FlytheTail

I'm in the same situation. Really should have read this thread first. Pathetic, United.

Michael D

Logged in yesterday, completed the security update, and logged in and out a few times. Today couldn't log in on app. Answered security questions and changed password to the same password I set it to yesterday. Later logged in on website and each time I attempted to login the fields were cleared with no message of wrong username/password. Tried repeatedly. Got phone and tried to login. Account locked. Called United and had unlocked. Logged in on phone fine. Went back to website. Same problem. Agent said they were having a lot of calls while people adapted. Omg

transportprof

Adapted to what? Being locked out of their accounts repeatedly? Finding another airline for their travels? This is really sad.

steveman518

because we know it's never UA's fault-the customer is never right

raehl311

Why? This is worse!

A 4-digit pin has 10,000 possibilities.

Two 25 potential answer security questions have 625 possibilities.

They've made it 94% *LESS* secure!

findark

Assuming it's like most other security-question based authentication systems, you also need access to the email account in question in order to gain unauthorized access to the account.

raehl311

I didn't want to mess with my account, so I created a new one to see how this worked.

My god, I didn't realize how bad this is!

United majorly screwed the pooch on this.

Right now, we have 4-digit PINs, which we all know are insecure, because there are only 10,000 possible combinations of 4 digits.

The NEW system:

- Click Forgot Password, enter Mileage Plus number and Name.
- Answer two security questions, each with 10 possible answers displayed.
- Pick a new password.

DOES NOT EVEN EMAIL YOU A LINK TO CLICK ON!

For those who are really bad at math, two questions with 10 answers is 100 possible answers.

So to "improve" the security of a system with only 10,000 possible answers, we replaced it with a system with 100 possible answers. 99% less secure.


Some people at United IT really, really, really need to be fired over this.

FlytheTail

It appears that if you know the MP number and the first and last name, it's even easier. When trying to reset your password, they've reduced the number of options to 10 per question, so with two questions, there are only 100 possibilities.

But, my answer is always listed twice for the first question, so if that's consistent, it could be as little as 1 in 10 to get into someone's account -- and reduced with multiple attempts.

This is such a major fail -- there must be a complete lack of common sense as well as proficiency in the IT group.