Originally Posted by jimmielin

If you're flying CA the guys over here do CAN-PEK-JFK/EWR return in Premium Economy, it books into Y/E/E/Y for the four segments if you want to maximize miles (100% Y, 90% E), make sure you book the domestic segments on a plane without premium eco to get Y, 10% more miles. Otherwise four flights in E/E/E/E are also a good choice. It works out for about $700 round-trip if the dates fit right, that's about 13k miles.

Most fares on CA earn miles, except a few nasty "special discounts" on their website or Chinese OTAs, who sell economy in the N bucket (which is for nonrev travel) or business in award buckets (I). But that's more of an exception, in general cheap fares are in L/K with 25% if you book ex-outstations, or T with 25% or 50% ex-China.