it depends on what you mean by stingy.

For example, on UA you can claim 30000 miles for a biz seat on a star alliance partner intra-asia (Say from Singapore to Hong Kong) - a ticket worth $2500 retail if you bought it. But award seats are always blocked or unavailable...where as if you use say, SQ KrisFlier miles, they charge you an arm and a leg and gazillion miles, but you can book the award at any time.