Skip to main content

Lock in Low Airfares for a Full Week with Hopper’s Price Freeze Tool

Shopping for the cheapest flights has never been easy. Even travel experts will admit that it’s something of a “dark art” that few people truly understand. Buy too far in advance or too last-minute and, either way, you’ll pay a premium. Thanks to a clever new tool, travelers can now lock in pricing for up to a week before pulling the trigger.

hopper app phone illustration

With Price Freeze from Hopper, travelers can shop airfare all they like. If they find a great deal, they can “freeze” the offer for up to seven days for a small deposit of between $1 to $40. The final cost depends on the length of the freeze, and the money will go toward that flight or any other flight booked through Hopper during the Price Freeze window. This means that, even if the price drops within the window, travelers can take advantage of the additional savings. Hopper confirms their average users save around $80 per flight with the tool, and some have saved as much as $200. Travelers who ultimately don’t book a trip during their window forfeit the deposit, however.

Related Videos

By U.S. law, air travelers have always been given a 24-hour window to consider or reconsider their flight purchase. According to Transportation.gov, U.S. and foreign air carriers are required “to hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment or allow a reservation to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty.” Price Freeze adds incredible flexibility to the process by adding as much as six more days to that window, during which the customer won’t have to deal with the airline’s shenanigans if they ultimately need to take advantage of this rule. Anyone who’s ever tried to file a dispute or service complaint with an airline knows that it’s a special kind of hell — especially if there’s a refund involved.

Diligent budget travelers know that airfare can swing dramatically in just 48 hours. In fact, according to Hopper’s research, the price for domestic flights can change as many as 17 times in two days. International flights vary up to a dozen times over the same period. For the most popular routes (say London to New York City), the price can vary as many as 70 times in a 48-hour period.

Price Freeze is available on more than 90% of all Hopper flights. The tool is currently only on iOS, but the company expects Android support to follow within the next few months.

Editors' Recommendations

Curated Travel With Origin Takes Planning Out of Your Hands
Origin screenshot 'Spring Break in Mexico'

Founded in 2019, the Origin curated travel experience just got a big boost -- $5 million in seed funding from Project A and Cavalry Ventures.

The membership travel company offers an app that links members to curated travel experiences to destinations around the world. The Origin personal travel assistant service creates individualized, customizable trips while taking the hassle of planning out of travelers’ hands. This is the first half of Origin’s mission: To help people save precious time in planning their next adventure. Origin also aims to deepen these experiences through personalization and unparalleled connections.

Read more
Aero’s Semi-Private Airline — Luxury Travel to Top Ski Spots
Aero's luxury hosts and leisure cabin.

In case you were wondering what billionaire Canadian entrepreneur Garrett Camp was up to since co-founding Uber with Travis Kalanick in 2009 (followed by startup launcher Expa in 2013), he’s now trying to shape the future of leisure transport with Aero semi-private luxury flights. And you can get in on the action.

Aero’s first flights aimed at U.S. resort towns after Camp saw the ever-growing need for attainable luxury transport out of ever-expanding Los Angeles. Aero flew initially to Aspen in February 2021. Elite winter destinations from Aero’s private L.A. terminal now include Jackson Hole, Sun Valley, Las Vegas, Vail, and Los Cabos, Mexico. This summer, the airline extended across the pond to provide connections between Ibiza and Mykonos, London and Nice, and London and Ibiza. In December, Aero opened its first European winter flights from Farnborough Airport in Greater London. This will begin with Nice and Geneva later in January and Milan in March. Starting at a thousand dollars a seat, there are plenty of reasons to give Aero a look.

Read more
5 Commuter-Friendly Vacation Spots That Don’t Require a Car
best car free us destinations key west bicycle parked on duval street travel usa

The rental car apocalypse is upon us. Gone are the pre-pandemic days when you could book a vehicle at the last minute and still be assured of scoring a deal. This summer, prices are high and availability is startlingly low. Waiting till the last minute might land you a $200-a-day deal for a mid-sized vehicle, or even no vehicle at all. How did this happen? Over the last 12 months, many car rental companies (those that didn’t declare bankruptcy) slashed their stocks in order to stay alive. Now that Americans are hitting the road once again, rental outfits simply can’t meet the demand.

While you might have to put the great American road trip on hold, there’s no need to cancel your travel plans altogether. There are many places where you can still plan a rewarding getaway. In truth, it can be liberating to travel without a car. Not only will you be doing the Earth a favor by reducing your carbon footprint, you won’t have to worry about the hassle of long lines at the rental counter, dealing with heavy traffic on unfamiliar interstates, or hunting for a gas station before you return the vehicle (or dropping it off on “empty,” which entails its own special brand of white-knuckled anxiety). Car-free sometimes means carefree, and going green never felt so right.
New York City & the Hamptons

Read more