Really appreciate your replies mwenenzi and pandaperth.

Will check out Mileage Monkey thanks mwenenzi.

Pandaperth - I'll check out the itinerary on an Egypt departure - can get a Cathay Pacific airfare to Cairo for much the same as an Amman oneway.

Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy re NY airports - I just didn't think of the difference given we were thinking of spending a week in NY with our daughter. Will redo with JFK arrival and departure.

So even flying business class with mostly QF partner airlines, you don't think there will be enough FF points to get us back home? We are only Bronze members in the QF program - we have about 32000 points each currently. I'll see if I can work it out on Mileage Monkey!

When I get to purchasing the tickets, is there a number for the AA world-wide desk? I have read that the AA desk is far more efficient than the other alternatives. I guess the AA desk will be able to provide me with contact details for an agent in Egypt, assuming it works out that way?

Thanks again for all the help - I'm very new to the RTW experience!!