At the end of another 11 hour, 4 sector duty day after a cruddy nights rest in a baking hotel and all the hassle of flying into Heathrow I can't be bothered to hand fly. If its a nice day, the weathers good, there's no other traffic and you're not tired then handfly it and have fun. Unfortunately the more common scenario is cruddy weather, busy skies, holding and being tired so the autopilot is a godsend. It doesn't stop you thinking, it just means you can take your hands off the controls.