I would like to fly from Hawaii to Auckland in December. UA.com will try and route me via SFO or LAX... no thanks. There is one direct flight from HNL-AKL, NZ 9 (not every day), that I would rather take (plus I get to fly in a Dreamliner ). Question, should I book this via UA as a codeshare, or directly with ANZ? I am looking to earning miles, as well as chances for an upgrade on this 9 hour flight:

• Book with UA: I earn PQM as well as PQD. If I end up in ANZ Y, I could use a Star Alliance upgrade (as detailed here), although I've heard ANZ don't release many premium seats.
• Book with ANZ: I earn PQM, but no PQD (and hence might miss my 1K status this year). If the information in this thread is still correct, I could forfeit my (slim?) chances of sitting in business if I pay for an upgrade to Premium Economy.

I eventually need to fly from AKL-HKG, and then back to HNL again - ANZ seems to have the better connections for the former, but UA for the latter route. So I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. Any suggestions? I have some GPUs to spare, in case that makes any difference.

Mahalo nui!