Because they need to keep pumping cards to get their referrals
But yes, the high point valuations bloggers attribute to credit card currencies are generally based on premium reward redemptions via mileage transfer partners.
The problem is, these values are often hard for regular people (even many of us here on FT) to replicate, because we don't always have the flexibility in travel patterns to fly when those premium redemptions are actually available.
Not to mention that there is always that argument, that just because an international business class ticket retails for $5,000, it's not really "worth" that much unless you would have otherwise paid out of pocket if the mileage redemption wasn't available.
I hear you. For airline miles, I calculate my own valuations based on when I redeem vs. buy a coach award for a trip I'm definitely going to take. That's usually in the 1.8 - 2.0 cpm range (for most programs where I actually earn and burn a lot). Out of those same programs, I often redeem int'l J and don't worry about the cents-per-mile (they can get silly if you look at max-retail rates in Orbitz for a convoluted open-jaw multi-carrier three-continent F itin!!).
I'm curious if there's one program in particular on TYP's odd (and really limited) list that the bloggers are baselining off of. Turkish? AsiaMiles?