During the course of the past month, I have advised 5 people on how to use their miles to go to the US because revenue fares are simply obscene. For example, CA is routinely selling its evening LAX flight for $3,000 each way. Want to connect in Korea/Japan/Shanghai instead, and you can shave off $600. I am loath to blame this situation on availability because award inventory is pretty good, though you might need to go to LAX via FRA if you fancy getting an economy redemption. And, I also can't blame fuel prices because Europe is still just as cheap now as it was in January (e.g. PEK-MXP rt for $900). In any event, I'm glad I have lots of miles to burn; they have never been more useful.