MM: I won't digress into the differences between merchant marine master and captain of an airliner.
I do find your sentiments sensible, given that the Captain has ultimate authority.
With the forecast and known seasonable patterns, there is ample reason to establish a crew rhythm that accounts for the higher risk portions of the route having Captain on deck as making operational sense. One would hope that the AF SOP would address such planning concerns, given that this is a regular route.
@ studi: would you suggest that your admonition (about "know your 3° idle descent pitch") is a common "rule of thumb" in the Airbus pilot community?
Was it a well known "rule of thumb" before AF 447?