Well, I called and BD in the US. They have processed a grand total of one RTW and they readily admitted that they had no clue what they are doing! "Did you talk to Mr. S**p**o. He's the only person we have done one for."
The agent asked if I was flying BD... negative. Therefore, they politely declined to help me. Apparently zrs70 had his first intercontinental segment on BD and therefore they felt compelled to process it in that case.
Clearly, their processing the ticket in the US was against the rules and a function of their lack of knowledge.