Going back to the question re. the A330 descent profile - as already pointed out by Spearing Britney, the profile is worked out in advance by the FMGEC using various factors. The difference is between A320/1 and A330 - the A330 will, if you let it, compute an incredibly efficient (but slow) descent profile, despite calculating a perfectly normal climb and cruise. This is not a problem on A320/1 because the speeds are faster, but can be on the A330. We tend to modify the descent speeds to something more realistic - usually about .81/310knots. If you don't do this - the machine will use approx .79/280 knots - again dependent on cost index etc. She does come down slow, and she sure don't like slowing down!!! 160 kt to 4 miles is the absolute maximum you can do, if you want to be stabilised at 800-900 feet.
Great areoplane though!!