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If you cancel, do you give the ticket to the person you were going with?

(46 Posts)
Cambsnan Mon 12-Jun-23 15:11:39

We were attending an expensive event and my friend does not want to go anymore. I was looking forward to it and it my friend is well off and can afford the loss. Should she give me the ticket or must we sell the pair. I have friends who would come but cannot afford to buy the ticket.

PamelaJ1 Sat 01-Jul-23 13:05:52

Funny that this thread has resurfaced , last night my friend and I bought tickets for a play. I’m a ‘Friend’ of the theatre and only paid for one ticket as it is the first night and that’s the deal. If I can’t go then I will definitely dive my ticket to her. I will have lost nothing, a perfect solution.

Smileless2012 Sat 01-Jul-23 12:48:43

I can't wind my head around that at all neither can I Doodledog.

I'd give my ticket to the friend I was supposed to have gone with, so she could find someone to go with her.

Doodledog Sat 01-Jul-23 12:17:23

Would people really rather see a friend miss out on an event than have a ticket that they can’t use go to someone else free? I can’t wind my head around that at all.

If someone asked me to go with them to, say, an organ recital (not my cup of tea) I would go to keep them company but wouldn’t want to pay £££ to do so.

I recently had a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen that ill health meant I couldn’t use 😢. I was very happy to let it go to someone else who could use it though. What would have been the point of keeping it?

Mamasperspective Sat 01-Jul-23 10:04:05

Personally I would try and sell it before considering giving it away. Even if it’s at a reduced price.

Dickens Thu 15-Jun-23 07:15:55

Tanjamaltija

You do not decide whether or not someone can afford to lose money. It is up to the other person whether to offer you the ticket for free, or at half price, or at full price, for someone else, because you have not actually paid for this person's ticket, and you always have the option to go alone.

I think it's possible that the OP gave us that information - about the friend being well-off - as context to the situation.

I'm sure a few posters, considering their response, would've asked if the friend could afford to give the ticket away before making a comment.

Of course the friend is not obliged to give the ticket away for free, and yes the OP naturally has the option to go to the event alone; but it doesn't appear to be the case that she wants to do that!

We can only judge by what we'd do ourselves I guess. I'm with those who feel that if you let your friend down in such a way, you donate the ticket simply as a good-will gesture. I suppose it depends on the nature of the event but most people I suspect don't want to go to 'events' on their lonesome, which is why they plan to go together in the first instance.

Doodledog Thu 15-Jun-23 06:43:34

4allweknow

Your friend expects you will go on your own! If she doesn't offer to sell her ticket to someone else who could go with you, is she really a friend. To give it away for free would be a slap in that you have paid for your ticket and someone else could go for free.

I totally disagree. If I let someone down it is because I have no choice, so the ticket is worthless to me, as I couldn’t use it. Letting someone else have it so the person I have let down can still go is the least I can do in the circumstances. Finding a replacement attendee is likely to be much harder if they are expected to stump up £££ at short notice.

Basically it is up to the person who has pulled out of an agreement to mitigate that loss as far as possible. If the friend is unable to go alone then to be honest I think that the cost of her ticket should be covered too. The fact that someone else was able to step in and cover for me would be a relief, not a slap in the face.

Tanjamaltija Thu 15-Jun-23 06:24:36

You do not decide whether or not someone can afford to lose money. It is up to the other person whether to offer you the ticket for free, or at half price, or at full price, for someone else, because you have not actually paid for this person's ticket, and you always have the option to go alone.

4allweknow Wed 14-Jun-23 22:55:27

Your friend expects you will go on your own! If she doesn't offer to sell her ticket to someone else who could go with you, is she really a friend. To give it away for free would be a slap in that you have paid for your ticket and someone else could go for free.

Calendargirl Wed 14-Jun-23 19:37:22

The friend wasn’t unable to go dragonfly she backed out of going.

There’s a difference,

maddyone Wed 14-Jun-23 18:59:44

I do grandetante. The friend doesn’t want to go. What will she do with the ticket? She’s pulled out, she should give her ticket to her friend so that her friend can take another friend. After all, the friend who’s pulled out isn’t going herself, and she’s sitting on a ticket that’s going to waste. Very, very few people go to the theatre alone, and so she’s unlikely to be able to sell it. Anyway, I think she’s got a moral responsibility to ensure her friend is able to go with someone else.

And if I was the OP, I wouldn’t make anymore arrangements with the friend who let me down.

NotAGran55 Wed 14-Jun-23 15:02:48

No sign of Cambsnan returning to tell us what actually happened.

Bella23 Wed 14-Jun-23 14:53:47

If she doesn't offer you the ticket to share with someone else, I wouldn't say anything but I would remember not to invite her to anything in the future.
I had to let a friend down because of ill health she had got us tickets to a late-night shop opening near Christmas with a Champagne reception. I did give her the ticket back and she took someone else. They didn't give me any money for it which I would have done.

knspol Wed 14-Jun-23 14:31:59

I would just have given the ticket I couldn't use to you so you could ask someone else to accompany you. Maybe you might suggest to your friend that you could try to find someone else who might like to use the ticket and wait to see if she is happy to give it away or else ask for recompense. I find it strange for her not to have offered it to you straight away.

grandtanteJE65 Wed 14-Jun-23 14:05:13

If you each paid for your ticket, I don't think you can expect her to give you hers, but I do feel that if you know someone who would like to use it, that you could ask your friend if that person could buy her ticket.

And I suppose if she paid for both tickets you could ask her if the ticket is still available.

I don't think you can expect her just to give you the ticket free of charge, however well off she is.

pascal30 Wed 14-Jun-23 13:27:03

not really a friend if she let's you down and doesn't offer you the opportunity to still go with someone else. Of course she should give you the spare ticket

maddyone Wed 14-Jun-23 13:05:58

my friend doesn’t want to go anymore

This sums it up. The friend doesn’t want to go anymore. Not wanting to go is not really a reason to pull out. There should be a good reason really such as illness. She should give you the ticket so that you can go with another friend.

dragonfly46 Wed 14-Jun-23 11:59:02

I wouldn't expect to be given a ticket by someone who was unable to go. I would always at least offer the money.

Mallin Wed 14-Jun-23 11:54:10

A very disgruntled winner was moaning that she had only won One ticket to a ballet in London. Hearing which ballet I laughingly offered her a fiver for the ticket. The offer was accepted and I will never ever forget seeing male swans in Swan Lake.
I wonder if the silly original winner of this ticket realised how much she was loosing out by accepting my offer of a fiver.

Blondiescot Wed 14-Jun-23 11:52:17

If I had to cancel for any reason, especially at short notice, I'll definitely give my ticket to someone and wouldn't expect anything in return. After all, you've already paid for the ticket, so why let it go to waste?

Maggierose Wed 14-Jun-23 11:50:43

I was looking forward to an opera visit but with only a few days notice my friend cancelled. She couldn’t leave her new puppy. I invited another friend who wouldn’t have paid for a ticket but thoroughly enjoyed it. She wouldn’t have come if she had to pay. Mind you not everyone thinks like that and I’ve paid full price for a ticket when another friend was let down. Generally I think if someone cancels at short notice they shouldn’t expect anything back.

Marjgran Wed 14-Jun-23 11:29:36

Talk to the friend….

Allsorts Tue 13-Jun-23 07:49:56

I agree with what Whiff has said. Personally, I never let anyone down if I’ve arranged something unless it’s an emergency situation, then I would give ticket to a friend, or tickets as you wish. Are you going with other people too, if so that’s not so bad but if it were just the two of you it’s dreadfully inconsiderate and I wouldn’t be arranging anything else with her I’m afraid.

PamelaJ1 Tue 13-Jun-23 07:40:11

I think I would think I was entering into a contract.
Two people going to an event that neither would attend on their own. If one didn’t go then the other probably wouldn’t go alone so both have lost money. I would want my friend to go and enjoy herself so I would just give him/her my ticket.

Whiff Tue 13-Jun-23 05:34:12

We had book tickets to go too the RSC in Stratford upon Avon in 2003 and where taking friends as a treat. Unfortunately my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the October. By November when we should have gone he was to ill. So gave our friends the tickets and they took a couple of friends . They offered to pay but we said know as it was our treat. They all had a really good time. But they where good friends to us and took my husband and me to his chemo and after he died in 2004 he visited every month always with chocolates and wine and phoned in between to check on me until he died.

I did win 2 tickets for a show in London but because of my mobility couldn't go so told the company to give them to someone else. I like to think someone had a wonderful time.

5553n Mon 12-Jun-23 20:37:44

I'm sorry your friend 'doesn't want to go anymore' thats a disappointment as you were looking forward to going. Have you asked the reason and what she would like to do with the spare ticket rather than assuming ''the worst'!. She /he / they may be prepared to offe the ticket to your friend half price. Good luck I'm sure it will all work out, too hot for angst!