As a sidebar to this a similar relationship applied (may still apply) between Air NZ and Air Calin. I burned some orphan Skyteam miles on SB and via the Skyteam booking system it forced me into booking the NZ option on an SB code - it was half the miles compared to taking the SB metal. Oddly enough all NZ benefits applied on the outbound (where I even got airpoints!) but none on the way back.
I was actually a little disappointed as I actually wanted to try the SB product but the delta between the two options was huge, but in the end the NZ flights worked fine - however, the times are social and the flight time pretty short.