I was ticketed on QF JFK-LAX on a First Classs RTW ticket May 2006. I was not allowed to board QF in JFK. BEWARE!
In this case the ticket is not enough to travel. I complained and bargained as much as reasonable in JFK but no luck. AA's RTW rebooked me on AA's glorified economy class via DFW and I caught my original connection to HKG on CX from LAX.