HOTY Airfare Booking

 Interesting to compare Virgin and Qantas

flights at similar times.  Prices include checked bags.

	QANTAS	VIRGIN	VIRGIN Business	V Upgrade Offer
BNE->MEL	$273	$275	$800-$1200
MEL->BNE	$225	$205	similar about $1k	+$160 -> $365 Half a business fare
Travel Bank		-$104
Total	$498	$376

Having worked my way through the booking process and having ticked a box that says that I would like to pay for some or all of the flight with travel credit but when I got to the checkout, there was no option to pay for part of it with travel bank. 

Eventually I called virgin on 13 67 90 and that required me to be "put through" and they confirmed that there was no way to do it on the web site and that I the way to do it's on the phone and they wave the phone charge.

BUSINESS UPGRADE

22-11-2023 Update
Decided to bid on an upgrade for the return leg.
I bid $160 which the web site advised was a "fair" bid.  Only $5 more than what it considered to be a poor bid.  Takes my total cost for the return leg to $365

I dont know what business class fares were for this leg at the time but I put into Virgin's web site to fly MEL->BNE on 18 Jan and the prices for business class ranged from $600-$1200 with a reasonable number around $710