Just before the pandemic broke out in earnest EK confirmed that my request for a status match was accepted, contingent on completing a roundtrip (from Asia) to Europe.
Then COVID struck while we were in Europe and EK cancelled our return flights. From the ticketing point of view EK behaved responsibly and allowed us to return home when that became possible (initially they could not accommodate us before May this year, but we managed to return before that date).
Thus we have completed the required roundtrip, be it later than we hoped for.

EK now refuses to implement the status match, because we should have taken our return trip within 12 months (as we had planned anyway). Returning in the midst of the pandemic was totally impossible and when flights resumed EK denied several requests to bring us home, until recently.

I find it utterly unfair to deny the promised status upgrade because a situation which we could not foresee nor influence. Am I wrong in expecting that EK should apply the same flexibility as they have done to extending the validity of the tickets until they finally assigned us a seats back home.

I had shared my concerns about this amazing situation with senior people in EK. It was corrected in minutes. literally.