Lon More
You say you are trying to avoid "spurious" charges by filing VFR - no problem with that. Or are you then trying to follow IFR through controlled airspace.
Not a bit of it. I am talking about a straightforward VFR flight to or from an airfield whose logs are inspected by Routes Charges.
It seems that sometimes these logs are either not annotated V/I, or Route Charges ignores the annotation and assumes I, and then raises a charge, even though the flight was entirely V.
In my experience, the place where this is most likely to happen is NWC (no fingers being pointed, just my experience.)
The surefire way to avoid these charges is to file a V plan, which Route Charges allow to take precedence over tower logs.
However, your question does raise an issue in my mind. When I cross class D airspace I usually say that I am able to accept an IFR or VFR clearance to make ATC's life easier by giving them flexibility. I wonder if, technically, by giving ATC the choice I am laying myself open to charges. If I am, I will stop making the offer, another negative.
W