Effective Feb. 1, 2010, the Alaska Airlines Money & Miles award has changed and will now require more miles and have a lower maximum discount off the cost you’ll pay for your flight. With the current Money & Miles award, members receive up to a 50 percent discount on most fares and earn 50 percent of the miles flown. The maximum discount off the base fare is $250 for 15,000 miles or you can get a $125 discount for 7,500 miles.

The new rates are as follows: for up to a 50 percent discount on the base fare of a flight, you will now have to shell out 20,000 miles for a discount up to $200 or 10,000 miles for a discount up to $100.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that members will now earn 100 percent of the miles flown, which is a small concession considering the 2,500- to 5,000-mile increase in the cost of the award.

For some members, this change is a deal breaker. As one FlyerTalk member said, “Personally, I don’t think this award is any longer a good use of miles at a penny a mile value. That’s at the low end of what I’d consider for redemption.”

Bottom line: The Money & Miles award can still be useful if you don’t think you’ll ever earn enough miles for an award ticket or are close to elite and need to earn the full mileage but don’t want to pay full price for a ticket.