Cast my vote for only using miles for premium long-haul (transoceanic) service. Last summer, LAX-TLV, was either $1500 in Y or $3400 in CO BF -- the 200k miles (Sleazypass) per BF ticket was well worth it, since paying $10k+ for 3 tix was a nonstarter.

Similarly, for next summer, it's LAX-Italy in AA F & BA J -- but I booked earlier and got them at 125k miles per. When I priced the tix, given the super-high fares ex-LHR, it was $11,380 per -- that's a 9 cent mile. Again, it's not really worth that much -- but when my wife (who thinks we're "only" flying in J) gets pointed toward the Flagship Suite at boarding...