I've got 5 SWUs, and I've got three passengers. I'm trying to strategize/maximize upgrade chances as booking months out, there's no SWU inventory. Basically, in late May/early June, looking to do AUS-HND with my family. Prices are pretty good right now on favorable times/connections. My plan is:

• Book wife and son on roundtrip AUS-HND - Main
• Book myself on AUS-HND - Main and book HND-AUS in Premium Economy

I'll use 4 SWUs on wife and son round trip and 1 SWU on my outbound. The above was selected because the price premium for PE on the return is only $500, where it's over $2,000 on the outbound.

My issue/concerns are, if I book my family (no status, just AA Exec CC) on a separate PNR and waitlist them for SWU, they'll have no effective status. I'll have a different PNR as you can't really upgrade just a single passenger to PE at time of booking. So I guess the questions are:

1. Can I call AA and have the two PNRs linked despite different class of service on one leg?
2. Can I book all three of us in main on a PNR and then just call and upgrade one leg for one person

Any other advice is welcome. We do understand the risk of booking without availability and can "survive" Economy if needed. The flights are AA 26 and 27 which are LAX tied, so not the worst long haul in terms of length, but I'm hopeful if I buy now (shows good availability in J), EXP wait-list priority this far out will play into our favor.

AA 27 on May 26th and AA 26 on June 2nd in case people were curious. Thanks for the help!