Congratulations. 1MM gets you 8 of the 500 miles e-certs and as of this time, Gold for life. As your 10,000 miles may have been flown prior to your Elite status date, you will not get the 4- 500 miles e-certs given for each 10,000 miles flown as elite. Check on-line and your account should reflect an upgrade to Gold status.
The 500 miles e-certs are used to UPG domestic flights, as Gold, 24 hours prior to flight. You need to request an UPG using e-certs.
Other benes are 25% bonus miles on the actual miles flown from this point, on AA or AA codeshare; some airports have Elite lines at TSA and of course, check-in at the First/Business class counter. Some AC's will permit usage, usually you have to be flying internationally.
[This message has been edited by rbAA (edited 08-21-2003).]