Seems like some guys just like to try and reinvent the wheel and think they can do somethings better than the automatics. True, sometimes they can, but it's knowing when & where. In older a/c it was much more possible to manipulate the pressurisation. On one occasion I had a lady passenger with possible internal bleeding problems, but the overseas Doc said it was OK to take just the one flight to repatriate. It was only 3 hours. We could file a lower level and we could manipulate the pressurisation to fly high but keep the cabin almost at sea level; just a possible preventative precaution. I once tried the same thing with a more modern a/c and made a complete horlicks of it because it was 'set it and leave it'. Other than complete manual override it was not possible to intervene.
Sounds like one operator who used V/S to clean up the flaps rather than TOGA & Bug Up. That was until they for got and made a horlicks of the next phase.
KISS is an SOP!