Thanks for the response and plenty of references! Yes all flights have QF flight numbers. I am confused as the BA site seems to contradict in terms of granting tp for EK operated flights.

I looked at AA, issue here is I would not be flying AA at all. I very rarely fly outside of APAC and EMEA. Looks like on BA I may not achieve elite status yet at least have some Avios and will get TPs for the QF operated leg. So BA may be the winner for me. Next question would be, should I use a household account with BA?