the next tactic is mixed cabin awards this has both a pro and a con so most of the times there's actually no discount if part of your trip is an economy and the rest of it is in business you want to make sure that you're keeping an eye on this because there are some websites where they'll say this is a mixed cabin award and if you don't look into what that mixed cabin is so let's say you're going from san francisco to la to japan if that san francisco to la flights in economy and the long haul is in business that's great that might be totally fine for you but if the opposite is true and it says first class but it's actually just first class to la and then economy to japan that's going to be a terrible redemption of points however where this can become valuable is sometimes those domestic legs are really tough to find in business class and so if you can't find san francisco to tokyo in business class because you're only looking for a hundred percent business class you might be able to find an award where you fly in coach to a connecting city in seattle or los angeles and then connect on in business class