Thanks - yes perhaps a bit naive not to have checked this. The rest of the booking has been fine though, so I didn’t suspect there would be an issue. Lesson learned.
Try the complaint and you might be given something. But, you were delayed rather than being totally shafted. There are enough postings floating around on FT and AFF saying you need the ticket number before anything else. So, sympathy on FT will be shallow only
FWIW, I’ve been caught out in BKK with a res on AY but no ticket number. AY spent an hour sorting it out for me - it was their fault but I was naieve at the importance of a PNR and a ticket number. I had not checked on the e-ticket Issuing.