Agree with 49er, at EY we are constantly "reminded" to fly CDA by the company but in some of the high density areas you just got to get down. I brief to use the three times height plus ten to distance formula because if you use the FMS profile for the STAR you will get high and fast on profile. I preferred to be pilot monitoring in to the US as some of our f/o's are not up to speed dealing with US ATC but now we are required to do the leg into JFK, IAD and ORD hence some of the difficulties with the PM on the radio.