For all award and eVIP planning the first recommendation would be to get a membership in ExpertFlyer.com.

I also was looking for a US Thanksgiving time holiday .. KIX, SCL, EZE, LHR or ?? I could find NO upgrade ability on the return flights on Sunday.. and with Saturday return most were a lot more expensive ..

I luckily found a good fare and C class (eVIP upgrade) ORD-FRA on 763 .. and booked it. I think I had to take a Monday return (instead of Sunday) but there was availability outbound on Wed/Thurs.

That will help you on the JFK-CDG-JFK legs.

Consider the TGV trains in France for some of your journeys . they are FAST and double decker and quite interesting. Tho I would book First Class on the trains as the French (who love to travel) tend to travel with all their children and economy class train cars can get to be VERY noisy.

You may want to look at some of the discount carriers like RyanAire and such where you backtrack to another city and connect onwards. Not sure what discount carriers operate from France. The Chunnel to London and then a discount carrier to VCE...might work also.

Good luck .. you may find (ExpertFlyer) that you are already a bit late on Thanksgiving travel with award or eVIP.

RESEARCH and BOOK SOON!