Old Boeing Driver;
Re,
I have heard that the Bus is quite a handful, especially without automatic pilot and computer aided controls, and at altitude.
Is this fact?
I have to differ with
vapilot2004 regarding hand-flying the A320, A330, A340 at cruise altitudes.
Long before RVSM rules I (and others) hand-flew the A320 to cruise altitude and often descent, approach & landing from top-of-descent. The airplanes are easy to fly and are not a "handful" at all; but one must have the hand, (no feet!) skills, obviously, and perhaps today that is not quite the case it was.
One must of course always bear in mind DP Davies' cautions and be gentle with the aircraft at such altitudes. The A330 and A340 were similarly easy to fly at cruise altitudes, both maintaining altitude and speed with gentle, tiny corrections, just as one would with any transport aircraft in cruise. It isn't "work", but as with any aircraft left to its own devices, it will try to get away with all it can...