Hopper Referral Code

A regulator has examined the exact things this app is best known for, and the findings are the most useful thing we can tell you about it.

On 2 July 2026 the Federal Trade Commission announced that Hopper had agreed to pay $35 million to settle allegations about how it charged fees and how it described one of its signature products. The respondents are Hopper Inc., of Canada, and its Massachusetts-based subsidiary Hopper (USA) Inc.

Two sets of allegations, and both are worth understanding because they generalise far beyond this one app.

1. Fees charged without consent, despite "no hidden fees" marketing.

The FTC alleged that Hopper unfairly charged users for "Tip" and "VIP Support" fees which the company presented as optional — but which were hidden and pre-selected, meaning a user had to notice and actively remove them rather than choose to add them.

That single detail is the most portable lesson in this batch: an "optional" fee that is pre-ticked is not optional in any meaningful sense. The default is the decision for most people, and designing a default that costs money is a choice about revenue rather than about convenience. There is now a US rule and a $35 million settlement saying so — the case is one of the first enforcement actions under the FTC's Unfair and Deceptive Fees Rule, the so-called Junk Fee Rule, in effect since May 2025.

Apply it everywhere: at any checkout, look for what has already been ticked on your behalf. Travel booking is the category where this is most common, and it is not confined to any one company.

2. Price Freeze was not what it appeared to be.

Price Freeze is Hopper's paid product for holding an advertised price while you decide. The FTC alleged Hopper deceived users about what they were buying — claiming the service would hold or freeze the advertised price and that the fee paid would be applied to the total price of the booking, while failing to clearly disclose key restrictions: that it only protects the price up to a certain amount, and only if the booking is still available.

Read what that means practically, because it is the whole product. A price freeze is only worth buying if it pays out in the scenario you feared. If the price rises beyond the cap, you are exposed to the excess. If the fare sells out, there is nothing to freeze. Those two exclusions between them cover a large share of the situations in which anyone would want the protection at all.

This is exactly the shape this project documents on every page: the headline describes the benefit, and the conditions describe when you actually get it. A price freeze is, in substance, an option contract — you pay a premium now for the right to buy later at a set price — and options are defined by their exclusions. It is a financial product sold inside a travel app, and it should be read like one.

A third point, separately reported and worth knowing: refunds offered as Carrot Cash rather than money. Users who paid to freeze a fare and were subsequently charged more have reported being offered Carrot Cash — Hopper's own travel credit, where 1 Carrot Cash is generally $1 and is usable only against prepaid Hopper bookings — instead of a cash refund.

Credit is not money. It is worth face value only to someone who will definitely spend it with that company, it locks you to the platform you are dissatisfied with, and a refund paid in credit is a refund that keeps your money. This project draws that distinction across many categories; here it arrives at the moment the customer is already unhappy, which is when it matters most.

So what to actually do with this app:

Check the total at the final screen against the total at the first screen. Any difference is a fee, whatever it is called.
Look for pre-ticked additions — tips, support upgrades, protection products — and untick them deliberately.
If you buy a price freeze, get the cap and the exclusions in writing before paying, and treat "still available" as a real condition rather than a formality.
Never accept credit as a refund when you are entitled to money, and ask explicitly which you are being offered.
Compare the all-in price against booking direct, which our other travel pages recommend for a separate reason: a hotel or airline booking made directly is easier to change, and loyalty benefits frequently do not apply to third-party bookings.

To be fair and accurate: a settlement is a resolution of allegations, not an admission of every characterisation, and companies frequently change practices as part of one. The point of this page is not that Hopper is uniquely bad — it is that a regulator examined the specific mechanics this whole category uses, and the findings tell you what to check at any travel checkout.