What’s the cheapest way to get from London to Nashville in July?

Q I need a cheap way to get from London to Nashville and back in early July – travelling out on 3 or 4 July, back on 7 July.

Name withheld

A Fare-comparison sites indicated that the lowest fares were on British Airways and American Airlines, so that’s where I focused.

Thursday 4 July looks cheaper than Wednesday 3 July, presumably because there’s a bit of reluctance among Americans to travel on Independence Day.

Flying out on American Airlines at 7.45am from Heathrow to Chicago with a quick change for Nashville (arriving 1.45pm) definitely looks best, and also cheapest, to me. Even with the change of planes the total journey is less than three hours longer than the BA nonstop, and you’ll get in a full four hours earlier than the BA nonstop. You will also clear US border control in Chicago – and with a 10.05am arrival, O’Hare airport will be queue-free – which will save you time on reaching Nashville. You should have a full afternoon for sightseeing. And it saves more than £200 on the nonstop.

Coming back on Sunday 7 July, economy on the British Airways nonstop is sold out. You can choose to leave Nashville as early as 5.50am (with a remarkable same-day arrival at Heathrow) or as late as 7.30pm (arrives 1.15pm the following afternoon). But my recommendation is the 2.06pm which will get you to Heathrow at 6.50am, with a journey time of under 11 hours.

The total fare is showing as £717. Given that July is peak season, it’s tricky to save significantly. I looked at Manchester, Dublin, Brussels and Paris in case there was an advantage starting from somewhere else reasonably accessible from the UK, but they were all more expensive (though in the case of the Irish capital, only when the London-Dublin costs were added).

You may be able to shave £50 or so from this figure by using an online travel agent, though in my experience after-sales service can leave a lot to be desired.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder