QF offers three times weekly service SYD-JFK with a stop at LAX, and has rights to carry international stopover traffic on the U.S. segment. Some FT'ers have had luck in booking them as part of an OWE, others (recently) have at least gotten a verbal hard time from Qantas.

The generally-stated issue is that Qantas insists that pax on the U.S. segment arrive or depart the U.S. on a QF flight, and someone suggested it was because it somehow maximizes Qantas revenue.

I don't know the first thing about airline pricing structures, but I imagine that a SYD-JFK ticket just might not be that much more than a SYD-LAX ticket, so I wasn't convinced by that argument.

Today I noted a posting on the Qantas forum by one of their pax stating that his understanding of the requirement is that you must arrive or leave the U.S. on BA or QF - essentially "anyone but American".

Like almost everything else about this subject, YMMV, but it's one more interesting rumor to chew on.