I needed 2 tickets on Jan 2 from PVR-ORD that for months was showing $1900 per person one-way, no matter the routing. I found this egregious, but also understand that it's a super peak travel date from a popular vacation destination and that the flights were nearly full so they could get away with it. So I booked a standard award instead, as I don't consider the 37.5k miles worth $1900 (heck I can buy them for $787).
On Saturday, I checked again and the price had dropped to $166. Redeposited the awards and booked 2 tickets with money. No brainer (and a head start on 2017 PQMs!).
Point is, there's nothing moral or fair about any of it. The flights used to be full, and then for whatever reason they weren't. So prices went down.