I have the same use case, and you don't need to visit the Bluetooth menu. On OSX, you can use the volume icon and select the AirPods as output device to switch.

I have the same use case, and you don't need to visit the Bluetooth menu. On OSX, you can use the volume icon and select the AirPods as output device to switch. On iOS, you can use the AirPlay quickmenu icon to select the AirPods and switch to them. I think this is much faster than going to either OSs bluetooth settings menu.