You are correct about not receiving certs upon attaining Gold status. They dropped that perk this year. As soon as you hit gold, the "counter" starts for the 4 certs for 10,000 miles flown.

In terms of what gold gets you -- priority. I was gold for 3 years and 80% of my flights I was able to upgrade (using certs or paying $25/500 mile cert in blocks of 8). It was also nice to use 1st class check-in, get a reduced rate for Admiral's club, and have some priority for standby flying.

Priority for upgrades is 24 hours before flight time and the new automated system ensures that if you forget to call, the system will still try and upgrade you.

--Jim