I used to think that too. But the way things are going now, they might actually be more valuable.

1) With the cost of airline tickets dramatically increasing? The basic cost of tickets obviously cost more. That means there are fewer people flying. True, airlines are cutting back but if you can get a seat using FF miles, the cost of the ticket for those flights has gone up. that means the cost/mile has gone up and the ff miles had more value.

2) I had no problem recently securing 3 tickets to Rome, for family members. I also bought my ticket, for the same flight. My purchased ticket was $1700. And that was the lowest price I could find on my airline choice. My 3 tickets using miles obviously were worth the same amount. That's about 3 cents per FF mile.

3) The higher price the actual cost, the more valuable the ff miles become. Since most only use them for international flights, they still have pretty good value.

4) The other thing that has always been problematic for me is the fact that it's so easy to get FF staus, making it harder to find flights or get upgrades. with the cost of tickets skyrocketing, that means there will be fewer people able to make the higher levels (i.e. I will have fewer platinum to contend with), which again makes my level more valuable.