MU3001A and BOAC, just for clarification,
I didn't mean to imply that I believe passenger comfort to be part of the criteria concerning A/T off - A/P on approach. Nor would I think of it in terms of convenience - except where we would take that to mean that A/T use allows us more 'freedom' to reprioritise monitoring - and also ease the workload.
with a justification for using A/T based on the perceived difficulty of qualified crews to manually coordinate speed/thrust with an autopilot flown approach
I wouldn't suggest A/T use for that reason at all - but who could deny A/P driven 'pitch hunting' because the FCC's have no A/T input if not coupled - esp with turbulence or gusts and trying to maintain a changing target thrust.
Personally - my point would be to stick to all on (coupled) or all off - in accordance with AFM, etc. Not just because I understand/believe Mr. B's design philosophy/architecture - but it also makes the most sense to me.
BOAC --
Firstly, it is easy to fly manual throttles on an autopilot coupled approach - it is just discouraged by operators. I do not agree with theamrad's statement. It requires more monitoring also but does not really adversely affect pax 'comfort'. The autothrottle takes away a lot of the effort but CANNOT be left alone without monitoring.
Also discouraged by Boeing. But actually I'm not sure what there is for you to disagree with me on here - I agree wholeheatedly with what you're saying here - if we accept that the passenger comfort part isn't really a consideration here.