Thank you both for your inputs. I will investigate both options and post the results. Searching around I found one person claiming that as long as a fare is offered on Skyteam RTW ex-CMB, that if no alliance airlines fly a certain segment leaving the origin city (in my case, travelling eastward), one could fly on an alliance partner airline to the nearest airport [east] that Skyteam serviced, though they couldn't earn miles on that segment even though they need to use miles. I will investigate if this is true, as MH is a partner of NW, and as one poster noted, MH flies both CMB and MLE. Again, I'll investigate all avenues and post the results shortly, as I'm intending to travel on the first segment to Guam February 20 - March 15, 2008.