As a regular flyer between Sydney/Auckland/Wellington, I previously use my VA FF to accumulate points.

As a regular flyer between Sydney/Auckland/Wellington, I previously use my VA FF to accumulate points. But when code sharing with AirNZ find it very difficult to chose a seat or obtain an upgrade. So am now thinking of signing up with Airpoints. What is everyone else typically doing?

Same problem when booking VA flights as codeshare with SQ. Unable to select a seat on SQ planes until checkin.

I just booked an SQ flight to earn Krisflyer points, then shift them back to VA points, although the ratio is 1:35. Would rather know I an ideal seat first then points later. I asked a travel agent if theycan alloctae seats if they book VA on SQ but been told no? I might be totally wrong though? Cheers.

You are correct. It's a problem VA still can't rectify and its to do with them using Sabre as a booking system and Air NZ and SQ using a different one. (Amadeus I believe)

I've complained to them so many times about it just to try keep it in their minds it needs to be fixed. 

It is possible to book with VA, get the E-ticket number, ring SQ or NZ and ask for their PNR, then log into the booking on the NZ or SQ website. I've had that work for seat selection before, however others have stated especially with SQ it still wouldn't let them select seats. YMMV. 

I have the same issue when booking SQ from ADL to SIN via VA.  Thanks Gian for the tip however regarding ringing SQ and asking for their PNR.  Will give this a try.

Assuming you have Gold or Plat status with VA, a quick call to AirNZ gets this done for me everytime. On the A320s (all economy) they'll give you row 3 or 4 back, depending on your status, as they reserve the first few rows for their own Works Deluxe passengers and top tier FF.

On the 777s and 787 I've either gotten a bulkhead or was lucky enough to get Premium Economy allocated when the person taking the call was in a good mood!

"I asked a travel agent if they can allocate seats if they book VA on SQ but been told no?". 

Well, I just checked the Amadeus system (am a travel agent myself) and had no problem selecting seats on SQ metal but on a VA flight number, even without entering FF numbers. 

I am a TA aswell, and it can be done.