I always consider it when I'm doing a Y award. An ironic twist of the lack of airline competition due to recent mergers is that I actually get *more* per mile redeemed than I did a few years ago. Now I'm always above 2cpm, sometimes above 3cpm, on regular coach awards.

I don't bother with it so much on J because I don't actually buy those tickets with my own money when I don't have miles. Sometimes humorous to see that my three-continent F award is showing $18k-20k at max-rack retail (in Orbitz or the like), meaning that an actual buyer probably pays $10-12k for it, but I know *I* would not pay $10-12k for it, so I don't take it for anything more than entertainment purposes only.