We are in the early stages of planning a flight to Melbourne via Sydney and would like to know which airlines would have the best chance using skymiles, going next year, Oct/Nov travel 2014, we are very flexable as to how to get there, would appreciate knowing which airline to consider, flying in Business Class.

Assuming you really mean Delta partners, Virgin Australia is easily the best bet, with typically very good award availability and certainly the most direct routing. (They're not a member of SkyTeam but have a joint venture with Delta; in most but not quite all respects, Delta and VA treat each others' passengers better than Delta and many SkyTeam partners get along.)

See this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ess-class.html (though the OP is fairly out of date, as VA award flights can be redeemed through delta.com, IIRC).

Thank you I appreciate your response.

This is a route I do a few times per year. I usually do LAX-SYD on DL metal and then VA to Melbourne. SM redemptions aren't too terrible for this pairing and it can all be booked directly through DL. It used to be that the website would show you the VA flights too. Now, when I put in ATL-MEL, I get the direct LAX-MEL flight on DL which is considerably more expensive in my experience. Plus the biggest advantage on VA is that there are nearly hourly flights from SYD-MEL. The DL flight or VA flight from LAX-SYD arrives early morning 6-6:30 AM range. You can check in for your VA flight in the international terminal and then a free bus that takes you over to the domestic terminal where you will have to re-clear security. The first time I connected to VA, I allowed way too long for my connection, spent 6+ hours in the VA lounge. Now, I generally allow for 2 hours to clear customs and transfer terminals. So, I usually will book the 9:30ish VA flight to MEL.

As for pricing, my ATL-LAX-SYD-MEL including the roundtrip on VA between SYD and MEL priced out about $1,500 less than ATL-LAX-MEL on DL or VA in Y.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!