Airfare to London... what did you pay?

Not sure what prices were last summer. There is a website that looks at historical prices on a route - think it is farecompare or farecast - not absolutely sure.

However, looking at the daily prices for fuel - you can almost bet your bottom dollar that prices this summer are going to be a lot higher than last year unless you get real lucky with a mistake fare or a sale.

Ultimately, you need to decide whether spending 2-3 extra hours each way is worth $400 to you.

Also consider the airlines and airports involved. Generally the best way to avoid problems in-transit is to take a nonstop flight. US Airways also has a bad reputation, as does Philadelphia's airport (I'm guessing that's where the layover is?) If you miss your connecting flight, how big of a damper does that put on your vacation? It depends on how many of you there are also.

Unfortunately I would not expect to see too much of a drop in airfare for the high season, especially now that airlines are talking about adding another 20%. A number of people have had good luck by waiting til about 2-3 months before to book the flight. You might hold out until the summer fares come out, but it is a gamble either way.

I personally think $1200 is a reasonable fare for a direct flight from the West Coast. And the $800 fare is a steal, if you are willing to deal with the connecting hassles.

The thing that I've learned to watch for is the taxes and fees that get tacked onto the quoted fare. Sometimes the add-ons exceed 50% of the fare itself. I keep checking every few days, and the differences between airlines for various alternatives on the route that I want are huge.
I'm currently considering buying enough miles to book my ticket using rewards. At the rates I'm seeing now, our tix will run about $1250 each, but to buy the miles is $400. That $800 savings is nothing to sneeze at...

Before you go and buy miles make sure that you can get tickets to your destination. I would say it is probably too late for you to be able to get award tickets to Europe for the summer. You may get lucky if only looking for 1 ticket but more than that you will need to be very flexible with routings/overnights/etc.

Not sure what ariline you are going to get miles in but if looking at US/UA and Star alliance, then check the ANA tool for checking award space before you buy miles and then find out there are no tickets to redeem.

What do you mean when you say Philly's airport has a bad reputation? I am thinking of going with the one-stop, but I think I'll set it up so I have a few hours' time there, which I think should make it work out if the plane is late.

Last month I booked a flight from SFO to Heathrow on Air Canada (with a layover in Toronto) for $650 round trip. Dunno if that deal is still good, or if AC flys to/from Phoenix.

A few months ago, I purchased two tickets to London (Heathrow) from Houston for May 25--round trip for $697 each after taxes, fees, and everything included. I live in Baton Rouge, but figured it was worth the 3-4 hour drive to Houston in order to save the extra $300 a person it would have cost to fly from New Orleans. I booked these on Air Canada. You should try using them--they generally have cheaper rates.

Joel....as others have noted, energy prices aren't about to decline anytime soon. To my mind, the $820 fare via U-S Airways is as good as you're going to get for travel in a peak-period summer month. It looks like you'll go thru Charlotte, NC, which, in my experience, has been a good airport to transfer through.

Back in February, I got my airfare on Air France, LAX to LHR @ $899 R/t. Air France had a one day internet sale and I snagged 3 seats.