I’d take the NZ option. To be honest, I would rather do ORD-AKL in Premium Economy on any carrier than ORD-SFO-AKL or ORD-LAX-AKL in Business, just because I don’t like adding a stop that doesn’t need to be there. Also the NZ seat is outdated and doesn’t have privacy, but it’s a night time flight from ORD and they’ll turn it into a bed for you.