I have successfully worked with TG to reactivate a 'frozen' economy Q ticket that had been upgraded to J. Complicating matters is that TG has not re-commenced Bangkok-Auckland (BKK-AKL) nor indicated when they might re-start. I'll lay out the background situation and resolution that worked for me. BinSabai and Flyingbiker might be specifically interested.

Background

• Nov 2019. Purchased a flexible Q economy fare AKL-BKK-AKL for travel to an event in Apr 2020. This was refundable less $NZ 200. Applied GUP into J
• Feb 2020. Event was postponed. Considered cancelling for refund, but elected to move travel to Oct (successfully done). Pandemic worsened.
• Mar 2020. Chose the 'frozen ticket' option to Dec 2021 over a voucher or (trying) to seek a refund. I was reluctant to lose the GUP if taking either of the other options.
• Oct 2021. THAI office in Auckland proactively advise me 'frozen ticket' validity extended to Dec 2022. THAI office staff then reduced and email only response possible.

Activation of ticket
I have been tracking THAI's restructure and slow recovery. Unfortunately TG has not given any indications of restarting BKK-AKL direct, or even a 'tag' flight as was conducted in the 80s and 90s ( both BKK-BNE-AKL and BKK-SYD-AKL). I was concerned that the absence of a direct flight would probably invalidate the frozen ticket, and almost certainly lose the GUP.

In Feb 2022 I noted that TG was selling flights AKL-BKK that routed via Australia (SYD or MEL) and unlike in the past, these appeared to be bookable on the website. Pre-pandemic, trying book on TG online using any NZ origins other than AKL would result win an error despite that flights showing as 'possible'.

On 31 Mar I determined a suitable travel period in Oct/Nov, made a dummy booking online that had J availability and printed that out as a reference. Then I called the Auckland THAI office (a free call domestically), that then offers a connection to the THAI Contact Centre in Bangkok. I called at around 0900 NZ time, so 0300 in Bangkok. The call was answered after around 10 minutes wait. The agent spoke good level of English, and was very diligent to confirm understanding at each stage. I am a reasonable Thai speaker but felt no need to reinforce or restate my requests in Thai.

I explained I had a 'frozen ticket', provided the PNR, and said I wanted to re-book the flights for travel later in the year and that I had specific dates. Once the agent had pulled up the PNR and read through the notes and the revisions, he asked for the specific dates. He then noted that "So sorry Sir, THAI does not fly directly to Auckland". This is when I noted that THAI is selling flights to/from Auckland on the web, and that there are connections required in Australia. I said I was quite happy to transit Australia and offered to read out the specific routing I had printed. Asked if I wanted to fly from Australia to Thailand, I said "no" politely noting my ticket is from Auckland to Bangkok and so this could be re-issued for Auckland to Bangkok via Australia.

He put me on hold for 20 mins to consult with supervisor. On return he said that it was possible, and then asked me to confirm the dates. After a short delay, he offered Auckland-Melbourne(Qantas)-Bangkok (TG), returning Bangkok-Sydney(TG)-Auckland(AirNZ). I asked him to confirm that all sectors were in business class, which he confirmed. He then generated a new PNR and asked for my email. This was sent and I checked the dates, connection times and class of travel before confirming to him that all was correct.

He then noted he would pass this to colleagues in the ticketing office for review during working hours. He asked if I had a Thai number for a call-back during working hours. I do, but doubted I had sufficient credit to successfully use this and I'd need to dig out teh device etc, so I said I would phone back from NZ (same number). Total call time 51 minutes.
This PNR was not ticketed, but I could still make seat allocations for the TG flights, but not QF and NZ sectors.

I called back at 1500 (0900 in Bangkok), and noted that I had re-activated a frozen ticket and other staff had generated a new PNR and I requested that it was ticketed. I was asked to wait, and then it was noted that this was an economy ticket and mileage earning was per original fare class 9i was happy). He then re-checked with me the date and connections were ok (they were). He then said the PNR would be placed in the queue for ticketing. Total call time 32 minutes.

The e-ticket arrived in my email inbox the following evening.

0600-0815 AKL-MEL QF152 business (I) 737-800
1100-1630 MEL-BKK TG466 business (J) 350-900
1750-0710 BKK-SYD TG475 business (J) 777-300ER
0955-1505 SYD-AKL TG4825 business (J) 787-9 (codeshare on AirNZ as NZ102)

Comment
I didn't pursue other outbound routings on AirNZ outbound as there are no reasonable same-day connections. The QF flight is on a 737-800 at 0600 with a small recliner-style business cabin of 12 seats. I also didn't bother asking about mileage accrual with a Qantas sector.

Overall, the process in getting the ticket re-issued was simpler than I had anticipated. Hopefully by very late October that entry process will not require the 1 night in a SHA++ hotel.

I still have a BKK-SIN-BKK J award, and a BKK-ICN-BKK Y award to think about. I will sit on those for now and decide if I can squeeze them in, or seek a refund of the miles/fees.