Ha, maybe. It's the flight time she's concerned about which is why going to AKL first is a no-no as well. Flying LAX-RAR is better than LAX/SFO-AKL-RAR/PPT but the flight times (16+ hours) and schedule (not flown everyday AFAIK) are pretty bad.

There is a codeshare LAX-PPT on Air Tahiti through NZ but I'm not sure if it earns on UA. Usually UA credits based on operating carrier, which would mean I'm out of luck.

I really do like the idea of SEZ but if we're going all the way out there we want to do something else as well, potentially Madagascar (we've been to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe together already...we can continue visiting Africa :-) ).