Gracie- sorry I didn't expaqin that properly. We don't mind a few hours stopover ,such as we have had in Dubai when we went to New Zealand but not more than that

Bang for buck is very much a subjective thing.

As you say BHX limits you to essentially Emirates if you're after on stop options. A drive down to London would open up a world of possibilities, quite literally, including round the world ticket options.

OP - care to expand?

Singapore Airlines is very hard to beat and its schedule/frequency between LHR and PER will give you some flexibility.

+1 for Singapore Airlines

after quite a bit of research and asking on here we booked singapore for my daughters trip to oz, not the most expensive either

If Heathrow does not appeal Qatar fly ex Manchester one stop connection at Doha to Perth. Their business class gets good reviews on airlinequality.com and their prices are pretty good

Thanks all for the tips,I have been looking at Singapore Airlines amd it looks good.

Anyone have any pointers as to the best type of seats i.e proper flatbeds or pods etc.

On their A380 fleet ex Lhr they are flat and wide but get mixed reviews. Look at airlinequality.com. All the info you need is on the Internet.