An excellent point. I head straight to EF, too, especially since it has the really nice MPM tool under Travel Tools, so you can put in JFK-MAD-CDG-DXB and see how it comes up without needing to compute things manually. To find out that OMA-SLC-LAX-ICN-AKL is legal per KE, however (well, up to the domestic routing to LAX), takes checking KE's routing rules and then arguing with DL agents and finally having DL.dumb price your held itinerary properly.