Had a great experience last week. Had LHR-CPT. Called EK and requested the following:

- Move my departure forward by two days
- Change departure city
- Add a stopover
- Move 2nd flight to 3 days later
- Add a side trip

All explained over the phone and quickly understood, told fees for adding stopover, asked to wait for manual calculation on side trip and got a call back after 20 minutes. Due to active segment on the itinerary (had flown the outbound that day) told couldn't change right now but due to last seat would hold the flight and ticket the change next morning. Ended up getting everything sorted the next morning. It was a complex change and all the terms and requirements for quickly and easily understood and implemented by the Italian CS agent who was extremely helpful!

The above has been the norm with my interactions with EK staff, though of course occasionally one gets a bad apple.