I think this is a bit OT for this thread.

But remember that (generally) the fraction of unhappy people posting a review is much higher than that of happy people and therefore these 'many bad reviews' pronouncements are statistically very unreliable.

I flew EK economy for the first time in 6 years a few days ago and it was perfectly acceptable. I'll try not to make it a habit , but it was fine. Having 4 seats for Mrs t and myself on the first flight and 2*3 seats on the second flight definitely helped.... Sort of 'poor man's business class'

There are several reviews of people on FT who think that a good Economy seat beats the average PE seat. Caveat: This is also statistically unsound!