Travel App Hopper to Pay $35M to Settle FTC Allegations It Charged Fees Without Consent

Travel App Hopper to Pay $35M to Settle FTC Allegations It Charged Fees Without Consent

The companies that operate the Hopper travel apps have agreed to pay $35 million and will be prohibited from deceiving consumers about fees to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s allegations that they unfairly charged consumers hidden fees and misrepresented the total prices consumers would pay and the benefits of the companies’ VIP Support and Price Freeze services.

 

The FTC’s complaint alleges that despite its “no hidden fees” promises, Canadian company Hopper Inc. and its Massachusetts-based subsidiary Hopper (USA) Inc., unfairly charged users without their consent for “Tip” and VIP Support fees that the company claimed were optional yet were hidden and pre-selected for consumers.

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“Hopper deceived consumers by showing them a total price that did not include hidden, pre-selected fees,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The Commission will continue to use all available tools to promote price transparency and to combat unfair and deceptive pricing, billing and cancellation practices.”

 

Hopper allows consumers to search and book airfares, lodging and rental cars primarily through its apps. Until mid-2023, when consumers were ready to purchase their booking, they saw a screen with the “total price” and a Swipe to Book button that failed to adequately disclose that the company would add charges for Tip and VIP Support fees, according to the complaint. These “optional” fees were pre-selected and hidden on an app screen that only appeared if the consumer scrolled down. Since 2023, Hopper has continued to fail to disclose that Tip fees were optional, according to the complaint.

 

Consumers routinely complained that they did not consent to these extra fees, which have generated millions of dollars in additional revenue for the company, the complaint alleges. For example, one consumer complained that, “I did not intend to buy the VIP support. Honestly, it feels like ya’ll snuck that in on the final screen at the bottom and opted me in.”

 

Company employees also raised concerns about these tactics, according to the complaint. For example, in internal communications, numerous employees expressed concern about Hopper’s fee tactics, including one who said, “To me, the problem here is that we’re tricking users.”