I think we are in a little bit of a transition phase, and although my credit card miles are pliling up not being used, I am still optimistic that I will be able to redeem in the future. Currently there is a sharp increase in wages partially because of a lower supply of workers (pilots, CSR, airport employees etc) So CEO's of the airlines are not aggressively increasing supply of flights to anywhere near what we had 4 years ago and this pressure is causing prices to rise and "excess" space that miles use to fill up are no longer offered, and with airlines moving to a non-fixed point model even limited "excess" space is being filled with redemptions that cost 200k, 300k or more points round trip in business class.

Paid J fares sub $2500 from North America to Europe/Africa/Asia are getting harder to find too. Last year I didn't use points as I was finding good flights for $2000 to europe rather than 140,000 miles for the few saver awards that I could find with multiple stops and 5 hour layovers.

Finally finding the "Saver" award inventory, I have been noticing a trend with several airlines to wait 60 or less days before departure. So with that in mind, finding those seats to Africa in August, they might still appear if you keep looking in June.