Hopper (USA), Inc. offers a product it calls Price Freeze that purports to allow would-be travelers to freeze the price of hotels, flights, and car rentals they’re interested in, in order to have more time before they commit to arrangements. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Hopper in fact only protects from price increases of $100 or less and does not make that clear to users before they pay for the service.
Two classes have been defined for this action:
- The Illinois Class is all persons in Illinois who bought tickets or Price Freeze protection from Hopper during the applicable statutes of limitations.
- The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Iowa, Arkansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Delaware, Indiana, Georgia, New Mexico, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Maine, Nebraska, Alaska, Idaho, West Virginia, and Utah who bought tickets or Price Freeze protection from Hopper during the applicable statutes of limitations.
The complaint shows screen shots and explanations demonstrating the Price Freeze process for flights. A series of colored squares represents different levels of pricing for each day of several months. If a user chooses a date, the complaint alleges the next page of the app “provides flight pricing, suggestions on when to book, the option to watch the selected trip, and the option to hold the current fare for a fee, known as ‘Price Freeze.’”
Users who click on Price Freeze, the complaint says, “they are told this will ‘Freeze [the price] for 20 days’…”
When travelers click on “Price Freeze,” they are told this will “Freeze [the price] for 20 days” because “If the price increases, you’ll pay the price you see now and if the price goes down, you’ll pay the lower price!” They are then requested to make a deposit to accomplish this freeze—in one example, to pay $65 on a Current Price of $351.
The complaint quotes the Cambridge Dictionary definition of “price freeze” as a “situation in which prices, or the price of a particular product, are fixed at a level and no increases are allowed.” However, the Price Freeze offer does not meet this definition: The complaint alleges, “Hopper’s Price Freeze fails to cover the full price difference when the price of a flight increases beyond a pre-determined amount.”
The complaint alleges that users discover this only if they click on the “i” in a circle or “More Information” link on the screen. In these places, it quotes the app as saying, “If the flight price increases, Hopper will cover you up to [only] US$100.00/traveler in savings.” It calls this $100 limit a Service Cap. Users who do not click on these information options are told about this limitation only in the confirmation email, after they have paid for the price freeze.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Hopper Price Freeze Hidden Limits on Price Protection Complaint
July 31, 2022
Hopper (USA), Inc. offers a product it calls Price Freeze that purports to allow would-be travelers to freeze the price of hotels, flights, and car rentals they’re interested in, in order to have more time before they commit to arrangements. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Hopper in fact only protects from price increases of $100 or less and does not make that clear to users before they pay for the service.
Hopper Price Freeze Hidden Limits on Price Protection ComplaintCase Event History
Hopper Price Freeze Hidden Limits on Price Protection Complaint
July 31, 2022
Hopper (USA), Inc. offers a product it calls Price Freeze that purports to allow would-be travelers to freeze the price of hotels, flights, and car rentals they’re interested in, in order to have more time before they commit to arrangements. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Hopper in fact only protects from price increases of $100 or less and does not make that clear to users before they pay for the service.
Hopper Price Freeze Hidden Limits on Price Protection Complaint