Thank you both for your replies.

pynchonesque - useful background information! Once upon a time it was "accepted wisdom" here in Europe that Eastern European airlines were to be avoided; these days carriers like Malev, LOT and Lithuanian Airlines are considered perfectly acceptable and I was rather hoping that perhaps someone might come up and say "I've flown Armavia many times and they are wonderful".

WHBM - flying from AMS wouldn't be a problem, it's what I usually do (starting my journey at NWI). In fact I've only used LHR four times in the last five years. Thanks for reminding me about the time difference - I hadn't really considered that aspect. Though, on the other hand, if 0015 is really 2015 then my 9 am meeting the next day will be at 5 am...

Will give it some more thought (and maybe wait for other feedback here!)