Originally Posted by SFOPhD

Congrats on your first elite upgrade!

You are correct, however, to put "complimentary" in quotes. For Gold and Platinum members, upgrade aren't really complimentary. One needs to spend a "500-mile upgrade sticker" on them. You earn 4 every 10,000 miles flown, and need to use one for every, well, 500 miles of a segment.

More info here:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/el...leUpgrades.jsp