I flew the VA 777 from SYD-LAX a few times too, felt much roomier than the QF offering at the time. Being a bit of an older 777 with 9 abreast (compared to the newer 'standard' of 10 abreast) would have me choosing the older seat config (esp as I'm tall) over some of the newer tech

Yes, had the same thing happen to me with the mini-bars with the sensors years ago in the US, took out all their stuff (so I wouldn't get confused) and put a lot of my own stuff in there, just before checkout, put all their items back in. They wanted to charge me their exorbitant charges for ever...