Awkward...

*Disclaimer:  All names have been changed to protect the innocent and not embarrass the offender*

Okay, so we're on the way to a friend's house today for a BBQ when my cell phone rings.  "Do you have a minute?" my friend asked.  I really didn't because we were pulling in to the driveway of our BBQ peeps and I had a boatload of stuff to bring in but Frank and Michael stepped up and took care of it because they sensed that something was up.

So okay, I hang back in the driveway until the guys go inside and then go back to my phone conversation.  Long story short, my friend called me because she was planning on surprising her mom this week.  You see, it's her mom's birthday and she was going out of town to celebrate and my friend made reservations at the same place and was going to surprise her mom by being there.  The only problem was that her mother was going with her sister (my friend's aunt) and so just to make sure that she had all of the details of the resort (dates, times, etc) correct, my friend called her aunt and let her in on the surprise.

BIG mistake.

Apparently, the aunt was not on board with the whole thing and essentially told me friend that she was not welcome and not to come!  Now this made me a little mad (and I'm not even directly involved!) because there have been too numerous to count situations where this aunt has brought her daughter to places that no one wanted her and where she was a disruption and made a spectacle of herself and she has the nerve to tell my friend that she can't come!  I was speechless!

So we talk a little and I'm like "Just cancel the reservation" but she can't.  She booked it through some travel site and essentially you have to cancel 7 days out or you lose your money.  Now this wasn't an exceptionally expensive trip but she's still looking at about losing $500!  I know I couldn't afford to lose that kind of money and I know that she can't either!  So I'm like "Call your mother and let her know what's going on" and she doesn't want to because she doesn't want to cause any conflict between her mom and aunt during their trip.  I thought that was mighty nice of her and a lot nicer than I'd be if it was my aunt telling me to take a hike and lose my money.

So what do you do?  How do you fix this situation?  I mean, my friend can still go on the trip and just hide behind potted plants when she sees her mom but that just seems a bit ridiculous.  Or she can just go on with her plans and surprise her mom and pretty much tell her aunt to kiss her butt OR she can lose her money.

What would you do??