If going central london to central Newcastle isn't the train a better option? A lot less than £500 for fully flexible first class.

Train journey is approx 3 hours but when you add in time to/from the airport + the time you need to arrive before the flight there's not much time advantage flying and a lot more potential things to go wrong.

There's trains on this route about every 30 minutes so if you're on a flexible ticket you won't have to wait long.

I started flying NCL-LHR when I lived in Windsor and was working between Windsor and Staines. Being there LHR is so close it makes sense to fly. Before when I lived in central london the train was the best way to go.

These days I'm going between home in Newcastle to PRG and sometimes MAN with maybe a few days in between in London. With clever use of reward flight savers and their stopover rules it means I can fly most legs for £12.50+ Avios.

With all this cheap flying it does mean all my long haul is paid flights so I can retain gold.