You will be pleased to hear thats total rubbish. I regularly hand fly the 777 and thoroughly enjoy keeping my handling skills up to date.
I will go along (and probably fly along one day too) with ETOPS on this
.
I fly the Airbus A320 for 5 years (B737 before that) now, and nearly always - weather and cirmustances permitting - with everything switched off during descent/approach to keep my handling abilities as high as possible. (and for the FUN of course!)
A new company, new rules: that is clear and understood, but I am very glad that at BA, this will still be possible. (Though I understand that after 10hrs flight, I will not always be up for it
) Imagine only flying 5 or 6 times a month, and only from 300ft down to the runway. It wouldn't take long to lose your skills that way I think.
I am more and more looking forward to my 777 course.
Anything else I should know?