Hi
Had the same problem and did look at BA PE which is what we were going to do with VS but Virgin waited till the sales had finished
before telling us the good news...
We decide to go with China Eastern as their Business class was £500 more than the VS PE that we had booked and we get an overnight in Shanghai on the way back in the Ramada. The food might be a little iffy from various reports on Skytrax and the lounges are not clubhouses to be sure, BUT the seats look really good... I'll try to do a trip report if anyone is interested as their fares are pretty keen and providing they keep to time only get into SYD a couple of hours later.
Could be good and open up new affiliation with skyteam for future travels.
Bob