I have an upcoming trip OSL - LHR - HKG - MNL and return. Flights are CX and booked via www.cathaypacific.com, although the OSL-LHR and LHR-OSL flights are operated by BA.

I live in London, and booked the flight as (i) it was by far the cheapest route, and (ii) I have intended to visit Oslo for some time. My intention was to spend a few days in Oslo on the way out, and then only fly to LHR on the return, dropping the final leg to OSL.

The connection on the return LHR - OSL fight is less than two hours.

Since booking the trip, there have been a number of "ex-EU" booking and "hidden city" ticketing threads on FT, and I've realised that this booking falls into that category. I have not taken an "ex-EU" trip like this before, and I didn't realise that not taking the final leg was a potential problem.

I called Cathay and asked if I could do a stop-over in London and postpone the date of the LHR - OSL flight. They advised that fare rules do not permit a London stopover, and cancelling and re-issuing a new ticket would be a very significant premium.

So my question now is: what is the technique for skipping the final flight? I have thought about the following options:

1. Telling the agent at check-in in Manila that I will only be flying to London. Will CX allow this?

2. Asking the agent at check-in in Manila to short check my bags to LHR without disclosing that I don't intend to fly to OSL. I suspect this would be difficult to argue as the transit time is under 2 hours.

3. Checking bags to OSL, but exiting at LHR and asking airport baggage services to unload the bags. I wouldn't want to do this if that would cause delays to the following flight while they unload my bags.

4. Sending my luggage using a freight service from Manila and going hand baggage only so I could leave without issue at LHR. I don't know how easy or expensive this would be to arrange.

5. Flying to OSL and then flying back to LHR back-to-back the same day. Obviously inconvenient.

Does anyone have any experience of this recently with CX? Is CX particularly aggressive about forcing people to fly complete routes so that it can maintain effective price discrimination across markets?