Our dinner reservation has a cancellation fee, and one friend is always late

A friend reserved dinner for six and entered her card to secure the table.

The restaurant’s current terms include a fee for late cancellation, a smaller party, or a missed reservation. One person in our group is now running late and cannot give an arrival time.

The rest of us are standing outside trying to decide whether to be seated, wait, change the party size, or cancel while any grace period remains.

This is not the first delay. It is the first one with a card attached.

Current reservation, arrival, seating, cancellation, deposit, service-charge, and refund terms need direct confirmation from the restaurant or booking service. We should not assume the venue will hold the table, seat an incomplete party, or waive a fee because the missing guest is on the way.

The person whose card is at risk wants everyone to enter now and let the late friend join if permitted. Another friend says sitting down without her is rude. I think asking five punctual people and a restaurant to absorb an undefined delay is a strange definition of courtesy.

My preferred process is to contact the venue immediately, state the actual party present, and follow its instructions. If the reservation can proceed for five, we begin. If changing the count triggers a documented fee, the absent person should cover the portion caused by her absence unless the group previously agreed otherwise.

That last sentence creates more conflict than the money itself. The late friend says travel schedules are unpredictable and group dinners require flexibility. True. Flexibility should include sending an update early enough for others to use the options in the booking.

Would you sit without her, cancel the table, or wait until the restaurant decides? And when one person’s delay activates a group reservation fee, should the cardholder, the late guest, or everyone share it?