This year I made gold with AA for the first time... cost about $1000.
LAX-DFW-LAX without AADER
DFW-LHR-DFW during AADER
DFW-SNA-DFW during AADER
Voila, Gold. Had hoped to make it to plat with other trips, but ended up on UA and QF for the remaining trips scheduled this year.
Starting off 2009 with a ORD-IAD-LHR-IAD-ORD ($222ai) trip on UA to get a head start, but really need the same on AA, since DFW is my hub.
I'm really bummed that Kayak and AA ended their partnership. It was such a valuable tool to get those miles to add up more quickly.