On a more serious note:
SASless, may I assume that your early seventies african Jetbox flying was within the military? If so, there is quite a difference to 21st century commercial flying.
I think a customer who pays almost €30 for a minute of helicopter time is entitled to a no BS direct line flight wherever possible.
Customers have stopwatches nowadays and they have learned how to multiply.
We used to fly a customer to a certain location often.When I was on vacation a colleague took over. The customer asked why that other pilot needed 12 minutes more time than me on the same route, same aircraft, no BS from ATC.
Needles to say the customer refused further flights with that pilot.
Of course you do your planning, course, time distance, etc, but nowadays that's only backup.