Actually no the stopover is not important.
CO will not allow me to find an affordable reward to London so I also have a Virgin account which will alow me to be able to use my miles:
I am not elite in either
I have about 100,000 in two accounts with CO
and 100,000 with Virgin
By my calculations I can fly free to JFK on CO then one free to London on Virgin and purchase a Virgin ticket.
Thanks for the help