Probably not.

My guess is that CX gives strict instructions to the US check-in staff that checked luggage MUST be checked through on tickets to VN.
It is already a requirement for any ticket without stopover, but CX is known to allow exceptions. But, CX could easily ask its staff to strictly enforce the rule.

Past experience is that CX often allows short checking luggage, ie , often luggage allowed to be collected in HKG and sometimes the passenger does not fly onwards.
However, with this mistake fare, CX is honouring the very cheap fare (to the surprise of many here) on the basis that they will stick to the letter of the contract although the price is surprisingly low. Now, should the parties not also stick to a clause in the contract that in the absence of the passenger flying the entire itinerary the fare will be recalculated? Surely, yes. Is this counter-intuitive? No. If CX were to hold passengers to the contract in the same way they hold themselves to the contract, will they get bad press? They should not. People will say to those lucky ones who got a good deal "good for you" but if they decide to push things too far, people will say that it is CX's duty to protect company revenue and shareholders' interest. Let the Courts decide. CX will not be the first airline that enforces the clause of flying the whole itinerary.Those who booked the lucky fare left their credit card and other details with CX. Short checking bags or not checking in any bag actually raises a flag and CX will have good evidence to show the Court that skipping the last leg was pre-planned.

Short Checking Luggage on CX
 

As with many who took advantage of the recent low priced F fares, I am looking to drop my final HKG-HAN leg which is operated by VN.

I was curious if anyone knows whether CX will short check my luggage from SFO-HKG so I can just pick up my checked bags in HKG. My connection is about 8hrs, but it is during the day.

Thanks in advance :)

I am hoping that everyone will report back here with their experiences cancelling the final leg or the entire return trip, so that we can all learn what happens. I don't need my return and would be happy to let them resell it, but pretty sure they would want to reprice, even though it would give them inventory to sell that will otherwise be wasted.

This method is not recommended as it risks CX bringing up that you need to reprice the ticket as flown.

If you really want to drop the last leg and fly another leg, you should "self transfer" - get the bags only checked through to HKG, collect the bags and check-in again. If your next flight is also on CX, you do run the risk of the check-in agent finding your original booking and asking awkward questions.

Sorry, but there is no more appropriate phrase I can think for this than those who are looking to short check their bags here are taking the ****. Yes, it is possible on CX to short check bags sometimes at CX’s discretion but it is not guaranteed and outstations like Japan which follow the rules to the letter will very likely say no.

CX has very generously decided to honour their part of the contract to transport you from the US to Vietnam, but they have no contract to transport you and your luggage to Hong Kong. They would be perfectly within their rights to deny your request without a very large sum of money and as has been hinted above given the number of people taking these tickets it would make sense for them to issue a directive to staff to that effect (they may well do so / already have done so). If it were me, I’d plan to fly to Vietnam.

Some of the lucky F fare travelers with earlier travel schedules should maybe take a risk and report back later their outcomes, take one for the team :D

I agree trying to short-check a bag could raise an issue but why would not checking in any bag raise a flag? Many people - myself included - often travel with hand baggage only.

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.)