As an SE the points have far greater value as the booking restrictions are off. I live in a small, non-hub city and have family in YVR that I take my kids to visit regularly. To buy a seat there is about $800 return on a good day, taxes in. knock off the AP fees and I figure 15000 points gets me $700 value that I WOULD otherwise spend. That makes my miles worth 4 cents real money to me.

I have flown a few exec class overseas trips with them, but in reality I would be buying L class and using SSWU, so depending on the deal of the day it is sometimes better to save them for my short haul family flights and pay L fares for overseas.