The January 2001 Consumer Reports TravelLetter has a nice article about RTW options...lists 30 different airline options; min/max stay requirements, min/max stopovers, max mileage, 1st class fare, business class fare and economony class fares. Lowest combination was TWA/China for US$2199 (probably not valid now). There are 3 sample routings using LAX as the starting point. Lots of good info.