Well, they are valuable, you know.

Every time I take a CO flight the F/A reminds us.

About a year ago I got into a discussion on another travel board with a die-hard CO employee about CO's stinginess in redeeming miles for international flights, other than through SleazyPass. He posted a sermon about how much they could get for a full-fare seat so why should they give it away "for nothing"? Well, once I realized that a loyal CO employee believed that the points were worthless I cancelled my CO Visa and took my loyalty elsewhere. I've flown AA/BA to India and to Europe this year (another trip to Europe scheduled) and have flown CO to Cleveland.

The airlines can't have it both ways. They can't claim that their points are valuable when they hand them out and worthless when you want to redeem them.