Second that. Just yesterday some dates I was looking at had no availability in first or business SYD-SCL but had A4 and D4 for AKL-SCL on the same dates.

Availability differed between LA and QF so be sure to check both.

I was very puzzled about this for months (the longer flight is more profitable, so you would think that would get commercial preference), until I determined that LA had made some service commitments to NZ, so some number of seats are reserved for NZ origin and not sold through to Oz. Making this check much more important than normal (and given the travel patterns of NZlanders outside of FT, much more availability ex-AKL than ex-SYD).

The codeshare arrangement seems to require a minimum allocation of seats for QF. I think this has an impact as they don't seem to release seats to or from codeshare provisions (in either direction) until close to departure. It isn't uncommon for one airline to be sold out while the other airline has sold hardly any of their seats in a given cabin.

Some availability has turned up on the QF codeshare ... but I thought we couldn't use a codeshare when booking on a AONEx ticket? At least that's what BA told me once. Maybe if the codeshare is on another oneWorld's metal that is OK...?

Anyone done QF-codeshare-LA on a xONEx perhaps?

Codeshares operated by OW members are definitely ok.

The FlyerTalk community succeeds again - fractured circumnavigation now repaired.

Following your ideas I discovered that QF had A availability on LA metal on one of several days when LA had none in A D or L. And the tip for looking at AKL instead of SYD is also worth storing up as there was some additional inventory that way too.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Glad we could be of help SP0. Enjoy your trip.