I typically use them for vacations in biz (long haul overseas). But I did just book a friend a ticket from BOS-LAX to come visit me. I haven't seen this very dear friend in a while and this was a great time for them to visit but we only decided a week in advance and the tickets were $700 which was out of budget. So yes, 50k for a domestic roundtrip sounds like a massive waste, but it means a ton to me to be able to see this friend so in a sense it is priceless to be able to use my miles this way