But, I'll take on board your point Dave Noble about First in LA AKL-SYD being not worth the trouble.
The inflight meal in F for SYD-AKL was a sandwich. The seating is better than QF J unsurprisingly and was v empty but overall not v impressive. That, plus the timing of AKL-SYD gave me a good incentive to try out EK who were excellent with meal that would have been expected on a long haul
I would confirm with your issuing carrier that what you want to do won't incur a reissue since I don't see any difference between what you are wanting to do and what I did
Dave