UA Business Award with NZ Economy Segment
Hello. My friend is traveling in November on a one-way United Airlines business award ticket from AKL-SYD-IAH-Florida. The AKL-SYD segment is on NZ101 at 7am, the rest of the journey is on United. The United flights are all in business class, however, since apparently no business award seats were available at time of booking, the AKL-SYD segment is in Economy. Can one waitlist for a business seat, given the journey is on a Business Award ticket? Also, does NZ typically only release business award seats AKL-SYD very close in to departure date?
Thanks for your help.