Yeah, I remember a documentary a few years back following a BMI 737 from Manchester (I think) to Malaga. Not long after gear up, a minute max, they turned on the autopilot. and it was literally down to inputting altitudes and directions provided by ATC until the captain took control when the runway at Malaga was in sight, and I mean very clearly in sight and pretty close.
I would have fancied my chances at doing what the flight crew did on that flight, if anything went wrong though I wouldn't have a chance at flying it manually. Brown trousers and a heart attack for me I fear.
There is no need for the pilots to land the plane either, the Trident carried out the first full auto landing in 1968,the only thing the pilots had to do was taxi the plane off the runway,the plane did everything before that including the lineup, descent, flair, touchdown, reverse thrust and stop.
I think there is one (Japanese?) Company that has their pilots let the planes land themselves and it was that which was a major factor in one of their planes crashing on landing, the crew put all their faith in the auto systems until it was too late and then they didnt have the experience to recover it in time.