I usually don't let value dictate where I am going, only whether I buy the ticket or use a reward. An exception was when I had two business class awards to anywhere Star Alliance carriers flew (a special AC promotion where you earned your normal points and bonuses plus they gave you extra awards!)--I would never have used those for North American travel so looked at Australia or South Africa. My daughter chose South Africa.

There's no point wasting 15000 points on a ticket I could get for $100 CAD or 25000 points (or 2 business class awards anywhere Star Alliance flies) on a ticket I can get for $300 CAD and then use upgrade certificates to travel in Executive Class.

I now look for premium class tickets for my reward travel or use awards for last minute North American travel to poorly served northern Canadian locations that rarely have real discount fares(i.e. when a client isn't paying for the travel).

Other frequent flyers have the option to buy upgrades in their plans and I think that is a great use of points as you build status plus you travel at reasonable cost and in comfort.

My plans used to allow us to buy upgrades but not anymore. Besides, I have been travelling enough that I now have a whack of international/domestic any fare upgrades and have had 100% upgrade success ratio this year.