Completely setting status benefits aside, and strictly talking about value of miles/points/etc, the value I put on my miles is in the satisfaction I get from how I use them.

An example, I just used about 200,000 or so American Express Membership Rewards points to book round trip travel for three of my less-fortunate relatives from their home in Europe to Disneyland, here in California. Two kids and their mother who never would have gotten to see disneyland otherwise.

The cost of the travel otherwise if booked directly through the airline in a non-deep-discount bucket would have been about $3,500 all-in. Mathematically, it was a good redemption as far as I'm concerned, but that pales in comparison to the value of two kids getting to fly on an airplane for the very first time, and go to Disneyland.

There's a lot of value in being able to just pull some points out of your hat and make some magic happen for someone.