yanandu, all is up to a traveller. last i checked (may) AF still offered 2x25kg on transatlantic flights, real bargain, if you ask me. i prefer to have peace of mind and travel for more rather than spend days on my journey. to some people time counts - they may not have many days off work.
i travel to poland, to a city very close to a german border, just 150km from berlin. if i travel from SD it takes me exactly 24hr from leaving home in POP to arriving to my parent's house in PL. last time i took airberlin from POP and the trip took me 17 hours. you cannot do any less. and god help me if i had to do more than 24hrs. i did once when my plane from SD was delayed, i missed connection in paris. but AF has 5 flights to berlin a day so they put me on the next one. i checked the price when i was waiting at the airport - 800 euro for just that one flight (it was 23rd december).
again, it is up to the OP: whether she wants cheap but long and exhausting or expensive but safer. she is lucky to be able to fly via USA, that gives even more option as you can fly from POP to NYC daily. and NYC-london is also a busy route.