There are various reasons whey people do not check in bags, we all know that.
Raising a flag only means that CX will pay attention and see if there is anything wrong/they need to do something about. It does not mean that they will conclude that something is wrong. In this particular instance, if they are not prepared to allow people to drop the last leg and would like to collect a higher fare as per contract, they will pay attention to those who do not check in luggage or short check. This would be common sense.

A related but different question since I have a 12+ hour layover in HK - how slim is my chance to stand by an earlier flight after arriving in HK?

Thanks,

How about change your last leg to few months later and visit Vietnam for another short vacation in the future?
HKG is a stopover I'm sure you can do that, and changing tickets only cost 100 usd after u fly to NYC.

Would give you a nice "reprice".......

Just out of interest - does CX have to take legal action against the passenger for a reprice if you drop the last leg, or can they just calcualte and bill the credit card with no passenger consent?

(Legally I'd be questioning whether any such repice would actually be valid as it might be considered a 'penalty' - at least in places like USA, UK, Australia etc. But whether that concept applies in Viet Nam I have no idea.)

Bring old clothes and an old suitcase for your travel. When you reach the destination, wear and throw. Finally discard suitcase and return with only carry on bags with no need for the airline to check in any baggage.

Seriously I do this for some of my trips. And it's cathartic.

Only thing that can possibly screw this up is if I go overboard with shopping at my destination. :)

Depends on the wording of clause in contract of carriage but a reasonably good draft will allow CX to charge without having to sue. This seems to have been what BA did also and this is what hotels etc do when they discover that guest broke things in the room or removed certain items. The card holder can dispute the charge of course and there are procedures and a burden of proof to discharge. As for whether it is a penalty, I do not think it is. It will be viewed as the passenger opting to change the route / itinerary to a more expensive one (which is precisely what happens) and therefore a more expensive price is charged. Penalty is when one charges a super-normal price to repel / discourage a customer, a price that is not anywhere else charged. Here, if CX only charges what a normal HKG-JFK return route costs or whatever the passenger actually flies, how can that be a penalty? That is in fact reality!

I guess the potential argument for it being a penalty is that the sum imposed would not be a reflection of the loss suffered by the airline. In fact the opposite, the airline would be saving money through fuel and ground handling. I'd see a voluntary re-route differently - the applicable fare would prevail.

I thought it only cost 100USD, this is no longer the case?

My understanding is that you can only change at the "historical fare" if there is A space available. However, CX have zeroed A/C/D/I inventory if your ticket involves Vietnam.
This means that you will be charged the prevailing rate (F/J), which is much higher.

Are there any automated checks for this type of thing? It seems like if you traveled with a carry-on bag and only used a mobile boarding pass you might be able to fly under the radar.

You would be a 'no-show' for the sector. I guess if the airline wanted to look for a pattern of this for flights HKG-VietNam they could do it, and adjust their handling accordingly. But that's a big 'if' as to whether they will be bothered... unless they want to force more people to cancel.

To clarify a bit, I'm asking because I'm considering ditching my last leg and flying a CX flight to my actual intended destination.

My itinerary is:
JFK-HKG on CX, arrive in the evening
HKG-HAN on KA, depart the next morning

If I book CX flight to my actual indented destination that departs shortly after my arrival on HKG will it be auto-canceled? It doesn't overlap in timing with my next flight, but I'm not sure how things work with CX.

I will be doing a direct turn on my last leg with Vietnam visa and no check-in luggage. Given Dom's experience, I will have to alert CX/KA staff beforehand

CX will be watching mistake tickets very closely. Potentially looking to recoup the bill as much as possible

Does anyone know if inbound-F/outbound-J pax is entitled to F-lounge?

Connecting between short haul J and long haul F (either way) will get you access to the F lounge.

In my experience you had better be able to show onward booking from Vietnam when checking in also.

Transit is only possible if departing to a 3rd country...I believe this has been in place before the whole mistake fare issue. Hence, direct turn on your last leg will not be possible.

Someone wrote about it here..

I will enter into Vietnam and depart. Not the direct transit that Dominicus tried. Trying to see if that's possible

If you will be doing a direct turn, I doubt you can do it in 50mins. Immigration in Vietnam in my experience takes 20-30 mins

So regarding that, I wonder biz class will allow me to access the SkyPriority immigration line. If not, 55min transit is probably not possible. Have already contacted CX regarding this

Alright, I am trying below instead after some more research. Playing safe and I get back to Hong Kong on Monday

KA299 HKG - HAN
07-07-2019 05:45 pm - 06:55 pm

NX897 HAN - MFM
07-07-2019 11:00 pm - 02:00 am +1

Why is nobody taking the opportunity and spending a day or 2 in Vietnam?? Then there will be no drama, would it?

(Audio)

Decided to do that...and decided to fly SQ into Hanoi

I am travelling around Hanoi before my trip to NYC. I don't need to do that twice... :p

Just wondering can i re-schedule the last leg of my (HAN - HKG - YVR - HKG - HAN) which is HKG - HAN to a later day?
i notice the fare class was J in HKG - HAN leg, will a reprice involved?

Last time I flew J into Vietnam (KA to SGN) I was turned away from the Sky Priority/APEC line at immigration (as I was not on a VN flight) - although to be honest the queue for Sky Priority was just as long as the normal queues.

On the other hand, when I flew Y into DAD immigration took all of 5 mins (there was hardly any line/queuing as the flight was the only international one landing at that time).

The question of whether airlines would be in a good legal position or not to reprice a ticket where the passenger does not fly the last leg is one of the most frequently (and circularly) discussed on virtually all FT airline fora. A few jurisdictions have tested the question of whether airlines can cancel a ticket where a passenger misses a segment (e.g. Germany) with mixed results for passengers (e.g. cannot cancel but can charge the appropriate fare).

In terms of passengers missing last legs as a one off, I'm not aware that airlines frequently take action, but where missing last legs is done repeatedly, there has been repeat evidence that airlines will strike occasionally but sharply. For instance, a few years ago, in the Business Traveller "Ask Alex" column, a frequent flyer from a major European airline complained that the airline had cancelled his frequent flyer card and confiscated all miles on it as punishment for such hidden city ticketing. From the discussion in the magazine, the airline stuck to its guns. On the BA forum, a travel agent was issued with massive debit memos (ie bills) for passengers "missing" last segments after booking through them and the airline even lost some of its BA ticketing privileges for a while. On the AA forum, it was reported that after some passengers "missed" a few of their last segments, the airline sent impressively built security staff to the passengers' arrivals gate, politely informing them that since they seemed to have found it difficult to find the gate of their last flight in the past, the passengers had the choice of being escorted either to said gate or to the ticket counter where their tickets would be repriced if they did not intend to board it. Etc.

Another classic is indeed about checking visas as discussed upthread but also entry credentials. Most countries will require that visitors hold an exit ticket before entering the country. CX has been extraordinarily fair play in honouring those major mistakes without any issue and personally, I think that anyone who's benefitted and can't be bothered to at least play by the ticket rules is not only really stretching their luck but also taking very significant risks. If it were me, I'd ensure that I were squeaky clean because the potential losses should a local CX station manager decides to pay hard balls are very significant. As for questions on repricing, on most airlines, the rule of thumb is that tickets are repriced at current fares if changed before departure. If changed after the first flight, they are usually repriced at historical fares but that implies that the original rules still be met and knowing whether your new itinerary would meet that condition or not is often a difficult thing to figure out unless you know a lot about ticketing rules.

In short, unless you like to live dangerously, if you got one/some of those, just fly exactly what you have, respect all of your conditions, and take all appropriate measures to adapt your other travel plans to the ticket as it is or don't be surprised if your dream ticket turns into a nightmare.

orbitmic, very well said.

I wish, that orbitmic message would be communicated in the bloggosphere, in stead of all the proud and opportunistic "can do cheat" messages, with the "not my fault, if" disclaimer at the end.

Pay for what you fly, so to say.

Any actual updates on this, rather than speculation that Cathay has actually banned the NYE fare from short-checking? I am flying BOS-HKG-HAN and would like to drop HKG-HAN and short-check bags. I have a ~12 hour layover in HKG and the HAN segment is on KA metal.

If you don't get the response you need I suggest you do as I did and extend the stay in HKG. If I recall correctly, it was less than $100 USD and allowed me to get my luggage and move on. Saying that, I did spend some time touring in Vietnam and loved it, so if you can squeeze in even 48 hours I'm sure you wont regret it.

Enjoy Hanoi

I did a three part trip last week: CX from HKG to TPE to meet up with mates, then JL TPE to NRT for rugby then back on UO.

I couldn't even get a BP for HKG-TPE one-way on Avios tix. Had to be printed at desk. Docs checked and onward tix asked for.

At TPE, online BP was obtained, but docs check was still carried out on me when one of my mates checked in bags. Strangely, onward tix (which would've been the UO tix) not asked for.

We spent time in Hanoi on the outbound, and have been to Vietnam 3 times in 5 years now, so I think it’s time to see something else! Thanks, though.

Anyone tried short checking a bag in more recent times?

No issue. I flew LAX-HKG-SIN but bags only checked to HKG.

How long was the transit at HKG?