Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'll be flying from Boston, or possibly JFK, if there's a good reason to. I'm also open to flying back from KHI, since we probably will have to go there anyway. However, that doesn't seem to add many options, only Cathay Pacific. (I really thought there would be more airlines flying to KHI, it's a big city).

It does look like using AA could be an issue if Gulf has low availability. (Looks like Etihad is an earn only partner).

I tried using Continental's award search, and I have some more questions. Are the itineraries purely availability based? The reason I ask is because a couple searches resulted in crazy 46 hour journeys. Other searches had more reasonable times, but only certain classes. If I call in, will they have more flexibility?

If I can't find flights all the way, how much of a hassle is it to use awards for part of an route and pay for the rest?