Hello everyone!

Finally getting to seriously travel since before the pandemic. I'm traveling with SO and we now have a 4 yr old. In May we are planning travel from NYC to SYD and right now the cheapest fairs are on AA metal. We always credit this to BA (we fly BA to Europe and Asia) and are looking for tips to optimize tier points to climb back to silver after dropping to blue this year. I've seen a lot of articles out there with cheap cash upgrades on AA flights (https://viewfromthewing.com/american...onal-upgrades/, https://onemileatatime.com/guides/am..._paid_upgrades), especially long haul. Right now the round trip is ~1400 USD in economy and ~3000 USD in premium economy. There is also a flight options on Qantas, but I'm unfamiliar with the upgrade process with Qantas.

My questions are the following:
1. If we book in economy and hopefully score one of these offers, does this confer upgraded tier points in BAEC? The second article linked above says no, but I want to ask people's experience.
2. Any experience with upgrades on Qantas to optimize tier points for BAEC?
3. Do you have any suggestions about how to maximize this long trip for tier points (upcoming sales etc)?

Thank you!