Award prices have gone completely bananas. Here's how I'm still finding incredible deals

Where have all the good redemptions gone?

If you’ve searched for an award ticket lately, you’ve probably had the same reaction I do:

Wait... they want how many miles?

Award prices have gotten completely out of control.

I remember the “good old days” when you could routinely book a round-trip business-class flight from New York to San Francisco for 50,000 miles. Or fly one-way to Europe or Asia in business class for about the same price.

Those redemptions aren’t completely gone, but they’re certainly no longer the norm, and they are much harder to find.

These days, I regularly do a double-take when I search for award space.

Take a look at a few recent examples:

• Delta has asked for as many as 499,900 SkyMiles for a one-way business-class flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Ghana’s Accra International Airport (ACC). JFK to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND)? A comparatively “reasonable” 215,000 SkyMiles. These are routes that once started around 50,000 miles.

• American Airlines wanted 450,000 AAdvantage miles for a one-way business-class ticket from New York to Paris. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR)? Also, 450,000 miles.

• United isn’t immune either. I found business-class award pricing from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) as high as 411,000 MileagePlus miles, Newark to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO) in Rome topping 200,000 miles, and the airline’s new San Francisco-Singapore service reaching an eye-watering 450,000 miles if you wanted the newest Polaris Studio experience.

I could keep going.

Award pricing is experiencing its own version of hyperinflation.

It’s enough to make anyone wonder whether collecting miles is even worth it anymore.