Firstly, I have already searched for and read a wealth of information from the Oneworld forum for which I am very grateful.

Secondly, I wonder does anyone have any comments which might help me address a dilemma. I am due to travel to LAX (from LHR where I am based) in early September and was considering flying in first class with BA (food service permitting). Having some free time available, I have also thought of doing an AONEx trip and am pondering whether these two could be combined. The problem is, however, that I would prefer not to do all of the travel right now.

I am thus considering whether buying an AONEx ex-CAI and flying to LAX (breaking the trip there and returning to LHR on a separate ticket) is more or less optimal than flying to LAX and starting the AONEx trip there (first stop London for a few weeks).

The pros of CAI are that it is cheaper and I am not fussed about only having two stopovers in Europe/Middle East. The cons are that it is more hassle and I have to buy a ticket to CAI.

The pros of LAX are that I dont have to go to Cairo to collect a ticket and presumably it is easier buying a RTW in N America? The cons are that it costs more and I only get two stopovers in the US.

Hope this makes sense - any thoughts?