Definately westbound for all the reasons mentioned above. If I am shelling out the big bucks for an AONE ticket, I want to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

Plus, being based on the U.S. East Coast and a European/Middle East AONE buyer, westbound allows me to do the European and transatlantic segment in one trip (can be as short as two days if need be) and still have 2/3 of the ticket left to complete at a more leisurely pace.

Westbound. I've given up eastbound as the jet lag kills me. For the LAX-SYD flight I spend the night near LAX and catch the noon QF flight, arriving in the evening and am fairly normal the next day. For Asia to the UK it's an overnight flight, but Ambien and my autopap make it easy.