Flying to Europe next year? Hold off on buying tickets now!

So after searching around many different websites for air fares to go to Europe next spring, I have discovered a huge annoyance: all of the major airlines still have their fuel surcharges applied to trans-continental flights. These fuel surcharges are not small either - on a flight from Toronto to London, UK, the cheapest ticket I found was $366. However, the fuel surcharge on it was $320, and then there was even more fees, which resulted in the total price of the ticket being more than double the advertised price. The same thing happened when I tried flights out of New York to London. Fuel surcharges of around 300 bucks is pretty much the norm. While most companies have started to take their fuel surcharges off of their domestic and North American flights, as well as European carriers taking it off of inter-European flights, it still remains firmly stuck onto international flights. Most of the airlines are now saying that they are making up money that they lost when they didn't have the surcharges on and gas prices were so much higher. Is this fair? Of course not. But who is going to stop them from doing so? The answer to that question is consumers. Assuming the economy doesn't magically shake off the upcoming recession, it is likely that there will be more would-be travellers saying no thanks to Europe or other continents if the prices and surcharges stay high. If less people are travelling, there will be more empty seats that airlines will want to fill, and therefore they will have to start slashing prices if they want to make any money at all on flights. And if oil prices remain near current levels, the airlines will have a hard time next year justifying a "fuel surcharge" to consumers. There could be even more consumer pressure to eliminate the charges, and all it takes is one airline to crack. If one airline takes its fuel surcharges off of inter-continental flights, you can expect others to follow suit or risk being shunned by consumers. My best guess would be this would start sometime in the new year, possibly in February. It can't be too long before it happens, since there will likely be pressure on both European carriers from residents of Europe, and on North American carriers from residents here. So, in a nutshell, while it is sometimes better to book far in advance to get the best deals, this is a case where you should wait and hold off buying until the surcharges come off.