As has been said, I think the value changes case-to-case, but there's still significant value to be had, especially to Asia. I have found my AA miles fairly valuable for international leisure travel. Recently flew Europe -> Asia (connecting via HKG) on CX in first class, excellent product, 90k AA miles. Have also flown to Japan on JL in business for cheap (I think ~60k each way if memory serves). Both examples of flights with sky high dollar prices that I got huge value on using miles.
I certainly agree that BA is terrible with their surcharges but booking farther out (maybe 2 months) I've found decent TCON and TATL availability on AA metal. Though once you get closer in it's very rare. Flying out of NY, I've been seeing more IB options to various places in Europe lately without the absurd BA fees.