Ticket etiquette??

A 'friend' then put a laughing emoji and said I must be joking.

I think she was being polite. I can’t think of much I would rather do less than go to a concert with someone whose husband has tested positive for Covid and she’s being asked to pay for the privilege!

Yep, you’re being cheap and trying to profit from your friends.

If it’s an event they’d be interested in, then why didn’t you organise to go with them in the first place? It’s a second rate invite at best, so the only way to do that graciously is to make it a freebie. If you’re lucky they’ll buy the drinks/ice cream.

You have already spent the money, so I would definitely just give the ticket away.

Why can’t you go on your own?

I tested positive for Covid on Thursday, so gave away my ticket to an event. I wouldn’t ask for money in your situation either. I hope your DH is feeling okay, this variant is hideous.

H

The etiquette in these circumstances is you offer the ticket for free and your friend if they like the band/event (and aren't just coming to keep you company) says "are you sure you don't want any money"? You then both insist that in your case its free and in her case she pays, then she settles on buying you dinner or drinks at the event by way of thank you.

In this situation the economics are clear.

You have already spent the money. Therefore it has cost you are certain amount.

One of you can no longer attend.

Whether one, both or none of you attend you have spent the money.

So you can either attend yourself or offer the ticket to a friend to accompany you, if you think that you would enjoy attending more with a friend than going alone.

If they wanted to go they'd have bought a ticket already, and in this case you've already "lost" the money as it's been spent. You're trying to mitigate your loss by charging your friends which doesn't sit right with me to be honest.

I’d just invite someone. To be honest if we had a pair of tickets we couldn’t use last minute I’d just gift those too. I’ve even got a theatre ticket we couldn’t use exchanged for two cheaper seats a different night of the run and passed them on. What goes around comes around and others will generally offer back/pay for drinks etc so it probably all evens out. If it doesn’t at least the money wasn’t wasted and someone you like had a nice time.
People mentioning Taylor Swift/Oasis as an exception but I was offered a ticket to a similar event a while back by a friend when her OH couldn’t go and she wouldn’t even tell me what it cost so I could pay her for it. I drove us, bought all the drinks/dinner and picked up some merchandise for her OH. As I said what goes around comes around 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh yes, this is probably most likely

I’d have just said £20 or £30 for the ticket, if it was £60, or even said whoever goes can have the ticket but buy a drink/snack at the event. Saying £10 off a £60 ticket does seem tight.

Depends who you are seeing. If it was sold out/ your friends were looking for tickets then I think it would of been fine to offer it at a discount, I would say 50% discount though with it being last min.

If it’s not sold out/ someone popular then I’d give it away.

Let us know if you manage to find someone to go with.

Yes, this is the right etiquette, you offer it for free but anyone decent then finds some way to thank you whether it's paying for parking/buying drinks or contributing what they feel appropriate towards the ticket costs

(Like you Daisy I often can't go at the last minute due to chronic illness so DH then takes a friend)

I think it depends.Obviously if it's something like Taylor Swift or Oasis tickets then people would jump at the chance but if it's not in high demand then I can't imagine you'd have a lot of interest.

When is the event? Presumably it was short notice and the person would actually want to spend time with you unless it's an in demand event.

I'd be more inclined to invite a good friend for free who I'd actually like to go with

There’s not a specific etiquette I agree.

But you need to think whether this is actually attractive. £10 discount isn’t very much and let’s face it, if you get no takers you’re out of pocket anyway, whilst having to attend alone. So you’re sort of asking for company plus requesting that they pay for the privilege.

In those circumstances, if you wanted company, I would have offered the ticket for free, but only to people you really like and want to spend time with.

Edit - then the person would either offer you some money towards it, or buy you some drinks etc on the night.

Who’s going to pay £50 just to keep you company? I wouldn’t dream of charging any more than about a tenner.

I would offer pay .
Most of my friends would then say, no need.
Then I would buy ALL drinks, snack etc
Generously thanking

I agree. My friend split with her partner last year and offered me his bed for a weekend away. She didn’t want any money so I paid for dinner and drinks on the first night as a thank you

It's unfortunate that your DH has covid but these things happen and as you say, you can't return the ticket. So you either try and sell them both and neither of you attend or you give the ticket to a friend to come with you - but you really can't expect someone to fork out £50 to come at short notice just so you have someone to keep you company. I'm afraid I do think that's tight, yes.

If I really needed the money I'd have put it at half price at most. Although if I were that skint I probably wouldn't have bought them in the first place!

Yes it's tight to offer it as £10 off. I'd have laughed too. As others have said, it's almost more insulting than full price!

At this point you should probably go on your own. Even if you did now give it to a friend you'd be doing it begrudgingly which would sour the evening. But maybe lesson learnt for next time.

I think the thread is split because some people are assuming it's something they wouldn't want to go to and are therefore doing the OP a favour by babysitting them.

Either it's something you want to go to or it's not, if you do then obviously getting a ticket at a discount is a good thing. If you don't want to go then don't go, the tickets obviously have a value or they couldn't sell enough at £60.

If you don’t want to go alone, I think you’ll need to offer someone more of an incentive than them paying out £50! This just says you don’t want anyone getting a freebie from you. Which is fine. But then you risk going alone. So, your call. Not a question of etiquette. Just understanding the situation.

Also, fyi even if it were free I wouldn’t go with you knowing you’re probably incubating Covid. Certainly wouldn’t pay £50 to probably catch it from you…

I would have just invited a friend along as a treat for them. Benefits both of you.

I think that’s what most would do. Offer it and then not expect anything but the friend is likely to buy lunch or the coffees etc.