Has Anyone used the travel app “Hopper”?

Read ALL the fine print, that's basically your "contract" and should set your expectations accordingly:
http://help.hopper.com/en/articles/3176380-price-freeze

Excerpt:
Your Price Freeze may be subject to a refund upper limit. Hopper will cover a maximum price difference of the threshold communicated to you for your booking (when applicable). You can find the threshold details for your Price Freeze in your confirmation email under "Price Differences and Deposit Refunds."

In general, flight fares change in real time (there's no such thing as a guarantee of a certain price from one period of time to another) so it looks like this app has a gimmick built-in to try to get you to commit to a small pre-payment, which likely results in a sale since people who pre-commit are likely to fully commit in the end.

What are you trying to achieve?

I would like to buy the tkt at the frozen price of $279. My 5 dayFreeze period ends on May 3 (noon).

Everything is spelled out in the link I sent. You basically have 2 more days to act (buy that original ticket or apply the deposit toward another ticket) or you will lose your deposit altogether ("In the case that you do not book a flight within that same time frame, the Price Freeze deposit is non-refundable"). If the price has gone up, then Hopper owes you the difference up to whatever maximum they state in the terms you agreed to.

I've never used Hopper, so I have a question. Did Hopper prevent you from buying at the $279 rate the first time you saw it and pressed "book" (or similar)? Were you forced to freeze this fare and then it was much higher when you went back to buy, even a few minutes later? If so, this seems like a tease or bait and switch....but if you read all the language, it never says that you're initial fare is guaranteed to hold at that price.

Thanx Agnes.

My feeling is that if something seems too good to be true it often is.

I know nothing of your app. But I know that $279 round trip from New York to Barcelona is dirt cheap. That’s only $140 each way.

I might have expected that to have been your deposit - not the full price.

How much did you have to pay for the deposit?

I’m sorry for things not working out the way you had hoped. I hope things improve for you.

I don't know anything about Hopper, but for those who are not aware: The airline itself might allow you to freeze a fare for a small fee; United was doing that as of the fall of 2017. I think there was a 3-day option and a one-week option.

Using expedia I found a $284 r/t fare on TAP for random Sept dates. It is the "cargo class' cheapest economy ticket. Is that what you were looking at on hopper?

Is the new higher price for the same level of economy or an upgraded economy fare ?

TAP 'classic' economy ( their highest econ level) has a r/t fare of $548

I am not surprised about the BBB report for hopper--- https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/internet-service/hopper-0121-169116

Good luck

@ joe32F. So funny. What is "cargo class'? When you have to ride underneath with the checked bags? Or do they just strap you to a pole outside the BR door?

What is "cargo class'?

After an experience with Delta, I have coined, at least for myself, the category "SPC" class ( Self Propelled Cargo.) for the cheapest type fare an airline sells.

Since you walk onto the plane ( last) and get no perks, it seems the airline just sees you as cargo that they do not need a baggage handler to put on the plane, hence SPC. Now the task is to make SPC an accepted shorthand, like 'lol', when discussing airfares and seating classes.

I have used Hopper to monitor airline price trends, but I always buy my tickets through the airline. Most of my travel reading points to the safety of dealing with the airlines directly. Another downside of Hopper is I am unable to put in a multi-city search, which is often what I need for traveling to Europe. I find that often the lowest price Hopper offerings have terrible flight itineraries. I also use google flights to monitor prices and that site allows me to price multi-city flights. All in all I find Hopper a way to keep up with current flight prices, but I would never purchase from them. In most of my travels, I like to book direct with the companies I am dealing with. I often find better or equal prices and feel it’s a safer option.

I use Hopper just to monitor and check for best prices as well. They don't include Delta and Southwest info. I'm not sure about other airlines. I also use Google flights to compare and sometimes Skyscanner. I only book directly with the airline.