Hopper’s New Price Freeze Feature Will Let You See a Flight Price Now and Book It Later

Airfare forecasting app Hopper just announced a major change that can ease the stress that comes along with initial phases of trip planning.

The app, known for finding great prices on flights, just launched a price freeze feature that will give you more time to decide if you want to book without losing your deal.

“Customers come to Hopper to save time and money during their travel booking process,” Hopper’s Chief Strategy Officer, Dakota Smith, told Travel + Leisure. “Hopper’s core value [proposition] is that we ease anxiety about pricing volatility. Price freeze is a natural continuation of that.”

When traveling domestically, flight prices change about 17 times every two days, or about 12 times during that time period for international flights, according to the company. And if you’re traveling on a popular route like New York to London, flights could change up to 70 times in two days.

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By using the price freeze option, customers can put a specific price on hold for one to seven days without worrying the price will go up, Smith said. Users pay a deposit ranging from about $12 to $20 depending on how long you want to freeze the price for, which is then reimbursed once you book the flight.

Smith said Hopper started testing the feature in late August and about 30,000 customers opted to freeze their flights. They saved an average of $80 on their tickets, he said, and an average of $200 for flights booked during holiday times.

“When we find customers a great deal, there’s a lot of anxiety that that deal won’t be available when customers are ready to make their booking decision. You might not be ready to make that purchasing decision without speaking to others,” Smith said. “Hopper wants to ease anxiety, save customers money, save them time. [With this], we move closer and closer to that goal.”