• Open jaw is the way to go in this case.
• Baggage fees could be a HUGE consideration in this case. How much stuff you talking about?
• June-August is the most expensive time of year to fly transatlantic. $1100-$1300 is typical. A summer “deal” from NYC – LYS / LON – NYC in this case could mean the first airline under $1000 that doesn’t kill you on baggage fees. However, I think if you’ve signed with a few sources (Bing, Farecompare, Orbitz) for these routes, and are flexible, you might do well to wait until you see something in the $800s. I’ve seen similar itin’s in summer go for $500s up to $1300s+. Past sales are no guarantee of repeats; last summer’s low fares were a fluke; the price of fuel will play a big part in how airfares play out for summer 2010. A good price might pop up right now, next month, in April… no guarantee.

Also check consolidators for open-jaw tickets, such as Airdeals.com, Flights.com, and EconomyTravel.com.

Baggage? Tell me about it. It’s bad enough flying domestically. We have: one acoustic guitar, on cajun accordion (carry-on), one electric bass, one fiddle, one pedal steel guitar. The latter instrument has always been a pain in the butt fee-wise. Actually, I insisted that he bring a smaller, single necked pedal steel this time around. We’re not bringing amps or anything massive like that. The heaviest bag is likely to contain merch. I may mail CD’s to Europe, assuming I can get them past customs as promotional items.

I’ll sign up with Bing and Farecompare as well. The consolidators are also a great suggestion.

I’ll shoot for 5 tickets under $1000. If two or more airlines offer the same ballpark fares, I’ll use the baggage fees as a tie-breaker.

Doc

Actually, using Bing I just found 5 flights on British Airways for $5501.55, including taxes (i.e. approx $1100 per ticket).

That seems pretty decent, actually, though I’d seen better deals on Swiss Air earlier this month. Would you recommend I wait?

I know gas prices are high, but high unemployment and interest rates on credit cards rising fast, I wonder if airlines won’t be forced to reduce fares, even if the oil goes up in 2010.