itasoftware.com is the closest thing to an all summer search as you are going to get I think. Use their 30 day search and search for each month for your desired route. Also, you can search ita using for multiple airports by using semicolons e.g. for departure airport, type in ATL;NYC;BOS and it will search for the cheapest flights from all 3 of those airports.

Post here if you have anymore questions

From where? Not being nosy, but it can affect what I’d advise you to do, because not all airlines show up in reservation systems. ITA is a good tool for searching month by month, as TNAaron suggests. Zuji.com has a flex date search which will look for the cheapest fare over several months, but you have to check seat availability to verify it—it’s pretty easy. Post which airport you will fly from, and I’ll try to improve my answer.

Thanks for the great tips.  I could be flying out of either Sacramento, Reno, SFO, Oakland or Vegas which ever is cheapest.  Would like to end up either in Greece, Italy, Austria, Croatia or Southern Germany. he trains could get me to those places.

I know they have good flights into Munich from Vegas on certain dates. T
\Thanks again…. I will try those sites..

Having just searched those recently, I can tell you that LTU’s flights from Vegas to Dusseldorf are cheapest I’m seeing from anywhere western USA to anywhere Europe in June. Those flights are $200-$300 cheaper than anything else out west. www.ltu.com However, it’s only March, and it is possible that another airline will float some incredible deals (like the SFOs to MUCs this summer for under $600 that Russ posted several weeks back).

You should definitely get familiar with ITA’s month-long search, and add San Jose if you could go from there. You can search “from” all of your cities like this: SMF;RNO;SFO;OAK;LAS;SJC and “to” DUS;VIE;MUC;ROM;MIL;VCE;ATH just like that, semicolon and no space, to search multiple airports simultaneously. Once you find a route you like, try to book direct from the airline if price is the same.

——- updated
Ok, I just ran ITA for you. Vegas-Dusseldorf June 18 \ July 9 $569 all in on German airline LTU ($620 with onward hops to\from Munich included). Taking Vegas out of the search, next-cheapest shows up as $1143 using these airports. I think you’ll be hard-pressed to do better than this LTU fare from Las Vegas.

Sticking with ITA’s search, I see Reno to Vegas fares, same dates as the LTU flight, starting at $138 roundtrip. I did not check flight times to see if they work with the LTU outbound and return times. SFO LAS $168; SJC or SMF $204; OAK $208. All of these are cheapest nonstops to Vegas using same date parameters in the search as the LTU flight. So… even taking the most expensive from Oakland, that’s 208 + 569 for LTU = $777, vs. $1143 otherwise. Another idea: one-way car rentals to Vegas.

Thanks so much Don… I have found a great site with ITA! 

  You should be a travel agent!!!  

 You were saying that someone might have cheap fares like the LTU fare later on, what are the odd’s?  How much were they last year, let’s say around May?  I would grab that fare right now, however my daughter is waiting to find out about a job first and I’m afraid that fare would be around much longer. 

 Thanks again….

Honestly, not so good. It could happen, and occasional summer fare sales at that level have popped up over the past several years, but it’s a bonus and not a solid expectation. I don’t exactly recall summer airfares from SFO vicinity last summer, except that Icelandair was in the market and had some decent prices (they’re not returning to SFO this summer). And not to put pressure on you (really—I hate that myself!), but to give you a clear and honest picture: summer transatlantic flights are packed. It’s rare to see any empty seats at all, and airlines charge their highest fares in summer. Waiting is usually not a good strategy for getting the best fare. However, if you are flexible, and don’t mind going on 2 tickets, and persistant in learning how to search fares, then I think there’s a good chance you can do at least as good as the current fares ($1200 thereabouts).