I was wanting to understand on a short hop such as this IF you could fly the same route VFR why you would elect to go airways.
In general, one would go IFR/airways over VFR even in perfect weather for
- automatic CAS transits (in fact CAS becomes irrelevant)
- better MPG - maybe +20% at FL100 over 2000ft
- better glide options
- "protection" from mid-airs by being in CAS under a RCS
- infinitely better options if the forecasts turn out to be totally duff (not unknown, especially the SigWx)
If you have been following the thread you might recall it all started because the view was expressed that you shouldnt "file" IFR in VMC OCAS because you perceived it would prioritise the service you would get over those "filing" VFR.
I ignored the aggressive bits
OCAS, I believe that
flying under IFR (and letting radar units along the route know you are
IFR) will result in a better service than flying VFR. This is very much my experience. But
filing an IFR flight plan is irrelevant because none of the enroute units will see it.
There are however other ways to get a better service on a VFR flight. One is to route via a collection of navaids and airways intersection names, and firmly and confidently give the route to ATC, rather than reading out a vague route description comprising of village names and VRPs.