CSA did service Colombo and may do so again in the future, that's probably why the fare exists. In any case many carriers have suspended service in recent months.

Using Skyteam's tool, I've got my basic RTW itinerary right now as:
PIT-DTW-NRT-BKK (NW)
SIN-CDG-MUC (AF)
MUC-AMS-DTW-RDU (NW)
RDU-EWR-GCM (CO)
GCM-EWR-PIT (CO)

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a newbie at planning RTW tickets, and though I've already spent lots of time reading (and re-reading!) these boards for information, I still have some questions that I'm hoping some of you can help me out with??

Basically I'm interested in paying for a business class skyteam RTW ticket.
1. only the 29k RTW has the business class option, right? the 26k only has economy?
2. if I get a business class Skyteam RTW, will I be able to get NW's "World Business" class? Or will I have to get a first class RTW ticket?
3. when using the Skyteam tool for BKK-SIN flights, I get the message: "This City Pair is served, but the timetable did not find any logical connections." Does anyone know what this means? Will I be able to book a Skyteam flight between these two airports? (and yes, I have tried different dates, but I still get the same message)
4. if there are no flights between BKK-SIN, let's say I decide to pay for my own trip (out-of-pocket, separate from my RTW ticket) for a one-way BKK-SIN ticket. Will the RTW ticket let me do this (i.e. arrive in BKK, but depart out of SIN)? Will the mileage between the two airports count against my total RTW mileage?
5. in previous posts, they listed the fare classes for _award_ RTW tickets - are these the same fare classes used for _paid_ RTW tickets too?
6. are there any benefits to booking paid RTW tickets with one carrier over another? For example, I have elite status with CO, but based on my RTW itinerary, I have a lot of NW flights, so would it be "better" or "easier" (in terms of ease of booking, finding availability/routings, etc) to book my RTW with NW even though I have elite status with CO?
7. in an earlier post which listed the rules/fares (circa 2005), it says that 2 international arrivals & 2 international departures were allowed for RTW tickets originating in the US (aka Area 1). I just looked on Skyteam's website today, and their terms & conditions are very sparse, and don't mention this point. Is this still the case for current RTW itineraries? (otherwise, my RDU-EWR-GCM-EWR-PIT segment would be invalid).

OK, so that's all the questions I have now, though I'm sure I'll have more as I get deeper into the booking process. =) Thanks in advance to anyone who can help shed some light for me! =)

Yes, you will. Only CO requires a F ticket for their BusinessFirst product. The other carriers treat F as F and J as J.

Basically there are no SkyTeam options on that route. You'd have to fly BKK-ICN-SIN or something like that. Just buy your own ticket and don't worry about it. Having a surface segment is completely normal as part of the RRTW trips, especially in the SE Asia region on SkyTeam.

Check out the first page of posts in this thread. There is a pretty long post there that lists the fare classes for the different carriers and the different fare classes. I am 99% sure that you can get all the different fares at each mile level, and that post should help you figure out the booking classes; I don't think that they've changed.

S.

Wait a minute... you mean that if you book a business class RTW ticket with Skyteam, if you fly on CO you will be relegated to economy? Is this right?

Yep.

What tool? The Timetable? Tried to use that one but it does not let me change the segments separately. You have to delete the entire itinerary if you just want to change one segment!

I should clarify that this is for reward bookings. For paid RTW I believe that CO books the Business ticket in to the Z bucket, based on - among other things - the KE rules that were posted earlier and that I'm re-posting here.

Also, on all three US carriers you're stuck in Y for domestic US flights on a J ticket. I'm pretty sure that NW offers a buy-up on a segment-by-segment basis, but CO/DL do not.

I did a RTW reward in Biz, and I certainly booked a CO EZE-IAH flight, which I'm 98% sure is a BF flight. Every domestic flight was a FC flight as well.

They don't have to service CMB. As long as they publish a fare to/from CMB, on any of their partners, even if it's a non ST partner. Bokk the first leg to the nearest city that is served by an ST partner, such as KUL, SIN or DPS or BKK. You will not get mileage for that leg, it's still not a bad proposition.

Was it a CO RTW or another carrier using CO metal for that flight? When was the trip? I believe that Co changed their policy on this somewherre around fall '05, as my booking in January '06 reflected this policy, though I hadn't seen it that way in my previous research. You are correct that EZE-IAH is a BF route.

It was a NW Skyteam RTW reward. The CO segment wasn't available in Biz until the fall of '06. I had a DL Biz class segment, and a CO coach segment previous to this opening up.

Has anyone bought a ST RTW in IST? According to the most recent KVS I have, IST is significantly cheaper that EU fares for ST. *A and OW IST fares are the same as the EU. I'm wondering if it is still the case I can buy a cheap RTW while I am in IST later this month.

I guess CO treats partners better than their own fliers, as they definitely charge the F price (280K) for BF seats if you fly CO metal.

While IST is cheaper than some major countries (like LON), it is certanly not the cheapest in Europe. Take a look here! http://www.gnopps.com/skyteam/pages/rtw-fares.php

Are you sure your web page is accurate? With the KVS spreadsheet I see a 29,000 mile business ticket is $4322 in IST, but your website has it as $7275 which is the same as western EU countries.