- For our family of four we paid around €3,552 in total: €3,528.80 in pure flight costs plus €22.90 for the train. All flights one-way to Brisbane.
- My flight (China Southern, departing Frankfurt) cost €467. It appeared as a spontaneous deal; comparable flights sat at around €800.
- Lucy and the kids' flight (Emirates, departing Düsseldorf) came to €3,061.80 for three people. More expensive because of a travel date during the German summer holidays and a delayed booking.
- We searched on Skyscanner, booked via Booking.com and Expedia. Checked baggage was included in both bookings.
- Every price here is our real booking amount. Where we suspect something rather than know it, we say so explicitly.
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We are emigrating to Australia as a family. I fly out alone on 23 June, Lucy and the two kids follow on 26 July. The flights are booked. Three tickets to Brisbane, all one-way. This article shows what we actually paid: every booking, every date, every platform. Not averages from a statistic, but our real numbers from spring 2026. If you are sitting there working out how much the flight will cost for a family of four, here is our complete flight bill, including the booking where we hesitated too long.
What our flights cost
Our three bookings for the trip to Brisbane came to around €3,552 in total. €467 for my flight, €3,061.80 for Lucy and the two kids, plus €22.90 for the train to the airport. That makes a travel block of roughly €3,552 for four people, halfway around the world. All flights are one-way, all going to Brisbane.
| Booking | People | Price |
|---|---|---|
| My flight (China Southern, ex Frankfurt) | 1 | €467.00 |
| Lucy + Joris + Linnea (Emirates, ex Düsseldorf) | 3 | €3,061.80 |
| Train to Frankfurt Airport (ICE €17.90 + seat reservation €5) | 1 | €22.90 |
| Total | 4 | €3,551.70 |
The flights are only one line item among many. How that fits into the bigger picture is in our overview of what moving to Australia as a family really costs. This article is only about flying. And about the question of why one booking costs €467 and the other roughly six times that.
Why we booked one-way
All three flight tickets are one-way. Outbound only, no return. That was a deliberate decision, not a money-saving move. We are emigrating. We are not going for a few months, we are going to stay. A return ticket wouldn't have made sense for us. There is no date by which we want to be back in Essen.
Honestly, it feels different to book a one-way ticket. No return date in the calendar, no "and then we'll be home again". That is exactly the point. What these last weeks before departure are doing to us is in our piece about the last weeks before the move: The Final Weeks Before Moving.
My flight: €467 from a spontaneous deal
We booked my own flight on 10 February 2026: China Southern, from Frankfurt via Guangzhou to Brisbane, one-way, €467. For a flight to the other side of the world, that is little. And it wasn't a trick, no negotiation, no secret tip.
The flight simply showed up one morning in the Skyscanner search. The other connections around my date were sitting at around €800. And then suddenly this one connection at €467. I didn't think long, I booked straight away. The booking ran via Booking.com, where Skyscanner had forwarded me.
With flight prices there is no "I'll have another look tomorrow". When a good price is there, it is there now. And tomorrow it might be gone.
If I had waited two days, this price would very likely have been gone again. The fact that I am flying out alone helped: I only needed a single seat, not four seats together. A single cheap seat appears more often than three side by side.
Lucy and the kids' flight: why it was more expensive
With Lucy and the kids it played out differently. Their flight with Emirates, from Düsseldorf via Dubai to Brisbane, came to €3,061.80 together. For three people, that is just over €1,020 each on average. More than double per person compared to my flight. There were two reasons for that.
The first is probably the travel date. Lucy and the kids fly on 26 July, right in the middle of the German summer holidays. Flights are more expensive in school holidays, that is well known. We can't prove it for our case. It is our suspicion, but it fits what we saw in the searches.
The second reason was the timing of the booking. We only booked Lucy's flight on 31 March, later than planned. At the end of March there was a military escalation in the Middle East around Iran. No one could tell us whether flights via Dubai would run on schedule in the months ahead. We hesitated, and in that time prices kept rising. Eventually we decided to book anyway. As of today, it looks like the July flights are not a problem.
In hindsight, the hesitation probably cost us money. But in that moment, with two kids on the ticket, we didn't want to book something that might not take off in the end. It is what it is. Some decisions you don't make based on the price.
How we searched: Skyscanner, every day
We searched for both flights mainly on Skyscanner. Important to understand: Skyscanner is a search engine, not a travel agent. The site shows you which connections exist and what they cost. Booking then happens elsewhere.
We looked in several times a day. Not for fun, but because prices move constantly. Exactly this daily checking was the reason I caught my €467 flight at all. Anyone who looks once a week doesn't see outliers like that.
Booking then happened on two different platforms: my flight via Booking.com*, Lucy and the kids' flight via Expedia. Skyscanner forwarded to both. You don't pick the platform, you take the one offering the flight at that price.
Luggage, seats and the train to the airport
Checked baggage was included in the flight price for both bookings. Not a line item we had to add. I have 2 × 23 kg, Lucy and each child 30 kg. That matters to us because we are moving without a shipping container: anything that doesn't fit on the plane goes later in numbered cardboard boxes.
One point a family should keep on the radar: the seat for the toddler. Our daughter Linnea is two. From the second birthday onwards, a child needs their own seat and can no longer fly on a lap. For us that meant three full tickets for Lucy, Joris and Linnea, no infant-on-lap fare. How we are otherwise preparing the two kids for the move is in our article on moving to Australia with kids.
And then there is getting to the airport. I am flying from Frankfurt but live in Essen. I booked the train ticket from Essen to Frankfurt Airport early. Early meant €17.90, plus €5 for the seat reservation. €22.90 together. A small line, but it shows the same pattern as with the flights: being early pays.
What we learnt from booking
Four things we take away from booking the flights. First: be fast when a real deal shows up. My €467 flight was such a moment. Two days of thinking, and it would have been gone. Second: don't hesitate too long. With Lucy's flight, exactly that cost us money, because prices rose while we were waiting.
Third: school holidays cost extra. Anyone with flexibility on the travel date should plan around the German school holidays. We couldn't, our date hangs off the school year and Lucy's studies. Fourth: search daily. Only those who check regularly see the good prices.
Would we do anything differently? As of today: no. But honestly, the flights are still ahead of us. The real test, a long-haul flight with a two-year-old and a six-year-old, only comes this summer. If we are wiser afterwards, we will add it here.
Frequently asked questions
What does a flight to Australia cost for a family?
Our family of four paid around €3,552 in total: €467 for my flight with China Southern, €3,061.80 for Lucy and the two kids with Emirates, and €22.90 for the train to the airport. All flights one-way to Brisbane. These are our real booking amounts from spring 2026.
Should you book one-way or return flights to Australia?
We booked all flights one-way because we are emigrating. We are going to stay. A return ticket wouldn't have made sense for us. If you are going to Australia for a limited time, a return flight is often the better option. For us, one-way was the clear decision.
When is the best time to book flights to Australia?
From our experience: search regularly and book quickly. I booked my €467 flight straight away the moment it appeared. Other flights sat at around €800. With Lucy's flight, hesitating probably cost us money. Travel dates within school holidays tend to be more expensive.
Which airlines fly to Australia?
We are flying to Brisbane with two different airlines: I am going with China Southern via Guangzhou, Lucy and the kids with Emirates via Dubai. This is not a recommendation. It is simply what fitted best in our searches each time: price, date and route.
Does a toddler need their own seat on the plane?
From the second birthday onwards, yes. Our daughter Linnea is two. She needs her own seat and can no longer fly on a lap. That's why we booked three full tickets for Lucy, Joris and Linnea, with no infant-on-lap discount.
Where did we book the flights to Australia?
We searched for both flights on Skyscanner, a flight search engine. Booking then happened on the platforms Skyscanner redirected us to: my flight via Booking.com, Lucy and the kids' flight via Expedia.
Last updated: 16.06.2026 · Basis: our own booking confirmations.
