Originally Posted by
Antarius
Sadly, as javabytes and platbrownguy said, this is more common than it should be. This is an extremely deceptive practice. United (for all its flaws) does a much better job of highlighting mixed cabin trips.
This is a case where the most significant flight should play in. MIA-LAX-HKG with the Longhaul segment in Y should not be classified as a J award.
How would you market such an award, and how much would you charge for it? The general standard in the industry -- there might be some exceptions -- is that the highest cabin you fly determines the award price.
Unless there is a married-segment issue, passengers are also free to combine two separate awards if that results in a cheaper total cost.