My vote would go to Singapore Air, I migrated with them on my own with 2 young kids and was 6 months pregnant at the time (long story, hubby had to go out ahead of me) - they were great. This was 6 years ago though. At the time they also gave the most generous migrant's baggage allowance which was also a factor - does anyone know if this is still offered? If it is you might want to include that in your decision making.

Good luck with your adventure!!

They do, for holders of unvalidated PR visas...however for anyone with a connecting flight into London or Manchester prior to their SQ flight the situation will be complicated...the 40kg allowance will probably not apply to the connection, so check excess fees for that flight carefully.

I’ll agree with what someone already said, drive to Dublin and fly with Etihad. You go Dublin – Melbourne with just one short stop in Abu Dhabi. Great service, good prices and you can pre-book seats. I found them better than Singapore, plus with Singapore you’ll have a few stops and changes Belfast – Insert UK Airport – Singapore – Melbourne.

The Etihad one wins by far for me.

OK, now that I've packed in my job I've managed to get the time to actually look at the airline websites.

Singapore airlines is a bit of a pain. I can't book 2 adults and 3 children online from belfast because the connecting flight from belfast is operated by another airline...I have to split the party into two separate bookings or visit the Singapore Airlines sales office

So I just checked the price from LHR and I'm shocked at the taxes and surcharges:

Fare for 2 Adults: 620.00
Fare for 3 Children: 696.00
Taxes & Surcharges: 1,349.15
Total: £2,665.15

The taxes and surcharges are just ridiculous. Does anyone know why it is this way?

Booking from Belfast (2 parties) works out at a total of £2950

So I looked at the same from Dublin using edihad airways.

Adults x 2 1,554.00 EUR
Children x 3 1,809.00 EUR
Tax 141.71 EUR
Service Tax 0.00 AED
Total
EUR 3,504.70

Which is basically £3000, so the price difference is practically nothing and we would have one less connection. So Dublin is looking like the favourite at the minute.

Thanks for all the helf so far.

You are wrong. They have individual screens as well as a big one. The big one will only display the route map.

About £140pp is the airlines fuel surcharge. For some reason, with pretty much the exception of Emirates, airlines don't like to include the cost of fuel in the base fare these days! About £115 is UK taxes and small amounts relate to Singapore & Aus.

Hmm, two things:

1) Look towards a return ticket - often there are fares that are only valid with a return trip, you WILL want to go home at some point, and prices of tickets in Oz....

2) Check out Malaysian as well, judging by Kayak, an Air Lingus hop to, say, somewhere like Paris, then Malaysian, might give you best of both worlds. I think the single carrier options are loading the flight to Dublin<>Hub somewhat.

Finding the best prices and best options takes time and skill. Often you can find better options than an agent will, because you are prepared to spend longer looking, and don't get paid a %age rake off.

What about easyjet to stansted then Air Asia to Melb?
Not sure if prices are that much cheaper when you take into account baggage allowances, plus the extras you have to pay for with Air Asia.
Never flown with them but might be worth costing exercise

Try the Emirates site direct, they have the cheapest fares and don't seem to release them to other sites.

You can pre-book seats and they are great with kids - better overall than Singapore Air IMO.

also they don't charge you extra to use credit card

book direct with them. http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/