sharpclassic,
As the Airbus is capable of doing the G/A automatically (once we have put the thrust levers in the TOGA gate) we are trained to do it this way, especially when the weather is marginal.
...and...
this incident could have been stopped as far back as ToD when during the brief the PF had said something along the lines of... "As the weather isn't great, I'm going to leave the autopilot in till we get visual. If we don't get visual, I'll hit TOGA, get the Gear and flap up and the aircraft will fly the missed approach which is in the FMGC"
But that is the case in point. Thrust levers
were not put in the Toga detent. So how would the autopilot have helped in this situation?
Instead of the usual "use the maximum level of automation" brigade going to work, I think it would be rather more appropriate to look at the cause for not being able to execute a simple maneuver without struggling to connect the auto pilot, instead of monitoring aircraft flightpath.
You are right, it's not Airbus versus Boeing, since there are numerous examples of this being a problem across all fleets. For Boeing the most outspoken with the Turkish crash in Amsterdam.
Nevertheless, I feel it's troublesome if Airbus pilots only have the mindset to do an automatic go-around and that the emphasis of their training is to do so, as you say. It should be in their mindset to get the aircraft to a safe altitude, before completely unnecessarily messing around trying to engage the auto pilot (Boeing made sure about nobody doing so by making a minimum use height of 400 feet for the 'Atlantic Baron' NG). To me it says that this is a more pronounced problem for Airbus crew.
Your reasoning is completely false in my opinion:
Engage the autopilot (leave it on in the first place) to ensure safe flightpath.
Rather that:
Ensure a safe flight by using you skill obtained from your training and regular practice,
then engage the magic to reduce your workload.
My point is, this is not an incident primarily caused by underuse of automatics, rather than perhaps poor skills and training. This should be addressed rather than allowing the management to say "Ok boys, we know that you are no longer able to safely fly the aircrafts, so please use the autopilot at all times".