Two contracts ago, I had the pleasure to fly with pilots from all over the world. Probably at least 30 countries, if not more. I learned a lot.
Training and "habits" are very standard in the west, including N and S America, and Europe. Even the way most of us flew. Even on the A320, most pilots would take off and hand fly until stabilized at climb speed on an assigned heading, or to a fix. On approach if the wx was bad, or we were busy, we would use the AP a lot, but usually would turn it off between 1-5000' agl if the weather was good.
Most pilots from Asia are taught to use the autopilot to the maximum extent possible. 100' agl on takeoff, AP on. 500' agl on landing. Every single flight. There are a lot of old TRE's on airbuses that still teach this, and to fly "Managed" descents almost exclusively. When they get a vector off the arrival, they have no idea how to calculate and monitor a descent.
I believed Airbus has changed their tune, and recommend hand flying for the past few years.
A lot of airlines in Asia require the use of autothrottles as SOP. Even a few big ones where the flight department is run by expats.
UA training in a sim should be required, but I fully agree that it is not enough. You need some initial training to get the spatial stimulus. AF447 should have never happened.
At the end of the day, the companies are always trying to reduce costs, including training costs. In the US, we had 4 hull losses at regional airlines in the last decade that should never have happened, including one high altitude stall to a crash. The response at the FAA was to require airlines to raise the minimums for FO's to 1500 hours. Great, but in 2014 when that law kicks in, they will soon find that they cannot fill their cockpits.
For pilots, it is our responsibility to maintain our own basic handling skills. When I flew long haul on 767 and 777's a lot of us would take off and hand fly to final cruising altitude, as we only got a few legs a month. We had to take the opportunity we had. Can't go all the way now because of RVSM (AP required).