After reading all this, it seems a shame that EK makes so many changes. It also is funny that this is the one change airlines cannot get away with (there's no way to have a first-class if there is no first-class. But you can change the time or cancel a flight and that's fine).

From reading this it seems like customer service isn't really the airline's forte. In terms of attitude. I've had plenty of Asian airlines fly with a first-class cabin with very few passengers (most recently CX, 1 passenger in F). Even Delta flew a plane with very few passengers. Maybe Middle Eastern airlines aren't really up to Asian airlines in terms of customer service quality then.