ExpertFlyer charges $4.99/month for it's Basic service which includes access to the entire site except fare information. For $9.99/month the Premium service offers complete fare, rules and routing information along with the ability to save repeated queries. Both are payable monthly and automatically by credit card which is charged for the monthly fee at the beginning of your monthly subscription period. You can set a switch in your profile to auto-renew, or not, your choice.

The "$99 up front" fee is the Annual subscription fee of $99.99 for those who opt to pay for the Premium service once for the entire year, in which case you effectively receive two months free.

Hidden fare buckets are presently available for AA, AF, DL, F9 and QF. Any other airline that chooses to make this type of inventory available will also be displayed.

Of course, there are many other features available on ExpertFlyer. We invite you to visit the site and see for yourself. And if anyone wants to "kick the tires", just PM me and I'll give you a trial Guest account which includes a ready to use Username and Password.

Thank you for letting me clearify this issue.