Look, while I agree with the OP's point that value is in the eye of the beholder, there are some very common issues faced by many "non savvy" travelers which may cause them not to get the most value from their FF accounts by redeeming Y tickets. Hence, there is a very strong case to be made that associates "savvy" travelers with those who look carefully at all options, including upgrades, C and F redemptions. Case in point: I recently redeemed MP miles for two J tickets to Istanbul from FLL for 160K (shortly before the redemption levels went up by 30%). Shortly thereafter, I went to dinner with some friends who mentioned that they had also redeemed their MP miles for 2 tickets to Rome in Y. However, their cost was 200K because they redeemed the miles via UAL's website, and the lower saver award category did not seem to be available on UAL metal and partner inventory cannot be accessed or booked that way. IMHO, this is a classic case of the non "savvy" traveler not being aware of all their options. They achieved their ultimate goal, which is to get to Rome and back. But, if they had known how to work the system better, they probably could have done what I did. They have never flown anything other than Y, but if they knew that the J option existed (albeit with a lot of work using a star alliance FF award inventory tool and then dealing with UAL on the phone), I am sure they would have strongly considered it (based on the bulging of their eyes when we compared notes). Who knows, perhaps if they found that via my approach Y to Europe would have been available for 100K for two, they may have chosen to save the miles. That decision to save the miles is not a bad one, which is to the OP's point. However, not being aware of ALL options before choosing it can be viewed as uninformed.