Chris: I'm not convinced that your correct identification of excessive automation in civil aviation justifies your statement that it therefore demands a less ruffled experience for the fare paying passenger. Increasingly the new ME types being procured by the RAF are following the automation trend (Voyager, Atlas etc), even the C130J was designed to fly A to B on strat tasks with the autopilot flying but the difference is that we still put an emphasis on routine training alongside tasks & we don't have to justify to an accountant why we flew a procedure manually for practice when a straight-in ILS would've got us in 5 mins earlier for a 200 kg less fuel burn. Whether that will stay the same into the future if 'civil best practice' gets adopted with enthusiasm as a means to reduce costs & given the ever increasing pressure not to fly around for training at the secret Oxfordshire airbase in case it upsets someone who thought that buying their bargain house next to an airfield was getting something for nothing.
As the Air France accident showed the loss of basic flying skills on the altar of reduced cost & profitability can have consequences. Hopefully the demands of military flying will justify training beyond the bare minimum well into the future.