Q: We are looking to go to Europe (Barcelona) for the month of July (from
JFK / EWR).  The fares are quite expensive, but it's still several
months ahead.  So my question to you is:  will airlines start offering
lower fares closer to the summer?  or are there no deals for summer
travel?  are we better off buying something now, or waiting for a
little while?

A: Even last summer, we saw a few scattered sales to Europe for summer travel.

We saw New York to Paris for $298 RT on Air France including all taxes for July travel for instance, which was amazing. We saw Seattle to Germany for $450 RT for summer travel. Both of these unadvertised sales only lasted a few days. Miracles do happen.

With the recession looming, I'm guessing that traffic will be off and airlines may lower fares a bit. Fares have been kept high by Europeans visiting the US in record numbers thanks to the weak dollar. I'd just keep checking for the next few months. I seriously doubt fares are going to go a lot higher than they are now, and they are indeed high. Also, oil will probably come down thanks to weak economic activity and that will give the airlines some breathing room. Be sure to use a flexible date search on Orbitz.com, and also check Lessno.com.