my husband had the aforementioned operation in february this year - he had the same symptoms as described in this post, often getting a very bad nights sleep, or waking up choking/vomiting - tablets (pantoprazole helped a bit but not greatly, he had been on various medications for 10 years He is in his 30's)
since he woke from the operation, the acid reflux has been completely eliminated, and he really really has a new lease of life ... oesophageal cancer runs in his family, so that was another reason to get the op done (over many years, the acid can cause changes to the cells in the oesophagus, in fact, in america people have this op as a cancer prevention strategy if they have it in their family)
anyway, you are right, he can't "burp" as such (although can approximate it if necessary) it does mean the air has to go somewhere, so he does fart more, but on balance, he much much prefers this to the pain/sleepless nights