Friend not sharing discount?

If money is that tight the last thing I'd do is go to the cinema, it's all overpriced and everything is on Netflix within a couple of months. Next time suggest she brings a bottle of wine to yours.

Maybe she is planning to pay for a snack or drink for you at the cinema, I wouldn’t write her off for this she prob just didn’t think it over at the time x

Just another perspective - did your friend actually say to you “I’ve used a free ticket offer I had, you have to pay the full amount” or did she send that message of the booking to you assuming you’ll go halves?

Perhaps neither of you have been clear and it’s a grey area. Did you ask if you was paying for the full ticket or half? Because I would just reply “a free ticket is definitely better than the 40% off my husband had - shall I send you half of the total amount requested over?”

Why not book your own ticket with 40% off and she goes with her free ticket?

How much is a cinema ticket?

You weren’t entitled to use her free ticket to subsidise your ticket price, but equally she wasn’t entitled to spend your money on a full price ticket either (especially when she knew you had a 40%discount). Better communication was needed in both sides.
ideally you should have booked separately using your respective discounts, or just got the tickets on the day and paid with your vouchers at the cinema.
hope you enjoy the film!

Grrrr....I'd grit my teeth, write it off, and go with, however, you now know that your friend is not the kind of friend who would do what you would do to save you both money if you could. Likely you won't be in such a position with her again anyway.

Yanbu, friends share and are generous. You were going to be generous by offering her your husbands discount, despite her not being his family or friend. But she hasn’t offered any generosity.

You still have time to suggest she may want to bring the snacks as you bought the ticket?

YANBU - timing aside, whenever I have discounts or freinds have discounts, we share them equally.

I often get "1 free dessert" texts from my local Japanese restaurant and when we pslit the bill, we aplit 50/50, not "my meal and my free dessert".

Same with the old Orange Wednesdays (am I aging myself?!). My ex and I used to go every Wednesday, BOGOF, and we split it.

That feels incredibly mean and rather petty on your friend's part.

No! Please tell me you got the 50% off of her 🙈

Its an oversight on your part. You forgot to book, then you didnt clarify the costs or how it would be split. Take the hit and forget about it.

YANBU. I have a membership that gets me free entry into many places. When I want company I split the cost of the entry with the person I’m brining. And yes I know no one has to do it, but it’s just nice to do it as a friend.

Did she need you to book a ticket in order for her to get the free one? I.e one free ticket when you purchase a full price one? Either way I think shes been rude. I always pop to the shop before the cinema to get drinks/snacks and keep costs down- hope you enjoy in the end despite this!

I'd never not share with a friend nor would they for me- mean really regardless of the potential discount which makes it more annoying.

Is her ticket only free if it is purchased with someone paying for a full price ticket? Then she’s pulling a fast one.

Even if it was a stand alone free ticket, it wasn’t very nice to land you with a full price ticket when she was aware you could buy one with a discount. Why are you the one who has to pay the premium?

You may as well have bought two full price tickets. It’s the same for you anyway.

I totally get why you're upset OP. Have you paid her back? Could she cancel your ticket and you just buy your own with your discount?

It wouldn’t cross my mind not to share the total cost. What’s wrong with people??

What a horrible thing for the "friend" to do! If her free ticket was about to expire and you can get a discount that you need right now, the sensible thing that anyone would do is to book simultaneously. You both go online at the same time, agree on the seats, she books the left or right seat with her free ticket and you book the other seat with your husband's discount.

NB I would still do it like this even if you were not cash strapped, @KellyJellyfish. Only an imbecile or a sadistic person would make a friend or acquaintance pay full price when they're already entitled to a discount.

If you both can't book at the same time, I'd still book separately to get the discount if she had to use up her free ticket. it really makes no sense to pay full price. Or, if I were her, use the free ticket another time and get 40% off for both on your discount.

This "friend" is the kind of person who will leave you to drown if there was only one lifeboat left on the Titanic instead of telling you to run with her to get on it, OP! I wouldn't be friends with her for much longer. She's basically scamming you so that she can use up her free ticket! Either that or she's so stupid that her stupidity will get you in trouble/danger in future.

If she did this to me, I would come up with an excuse not to go (she can go find someone else to palm her full price ticket on to) and find something else to do with someone more trustworthy! Bet she'll make you pay for her popcorn, drinks and ice cream during the outing if you went! Sorry you had to find out her true colours like this, but I would offload her now before she gives you more trouble in future. It's not a first world problem- it's a litmus test of whom you can trust. It's not as if she didn't know about your discount or your financial situation.

Not a very friendly friend.
"I'm struggling for money, so I'll use the discount, but I'll make sure I get you the same discount."
"SCrew you and your problems, I'm getting in free and you can pay full price."

She should have been upfront about it then and OP could have decided for herself.

Why though? Maybe she thinks the same about you. If she’d done what you wanted she would have had to pay 60% - why would she do that when she has her own free ticket?

Even from her POV why say to the OP they will buy both tickets knowing it will deprive OP of their discount when they've no intention of sharing the benefit of their free ticket. Worse case scenario is they only get their freebee with someone buying a full price ticket. Either way they know the OP is on a budget and the 40% discount is important to them.

As a friend, I would have split the cost of the paid for ticket.

Could you mention to friend if she can return the paid for ticket and you will re-book with your discount as you are struggling a little financially. That way she may either offer to pay half or she we will just say no problem and you get to re-book with the discount.

Reminds me of going shopping years ago with a 'friend', we were both pretty strapped for cash at the time, she assumed if I decided to buy a 2 for 1 offer then the free one was for her, not that she'd pay 50% each for one!

I'd always split the voucher in that situation. I went for dinner with a friend once, she picked the restaurant because she had a voucher 'we' could use...used it to pay her half of the meal and I had to pay full whack for mine, in a restaurant I'd never have chosen in the first place!