I had the same problem last night that the OP describes. Was booking WAS-DUB and could not get the ITA price anywhere but Orbitz, so I forwent the 1,000 online booking bonus in favor of saving $50.
On another point:
Originally Posted by qasr
I will let you know that if you book the LH flight number on the return you can't upgrade with SWU's until the day of departure.
Our return in LH codeshare FRA-IAD (UA metal). Since it is UA metal will those miles count toward 500 milers and United lifetime flight miles? Or does the LH codeshare screw all that up? How does that work?