This is, indeed, a great topic.

Currently, Golds have (subject to availability) unlimited upgrades on all fares. This will change on 01/01/04. After that, cert-holders should be upgrade-able in the same manner as Gold requests (full fare only for time-of-booking clearance). At the 72-hour mark, the cert requests should clear after actual Gold upgrades. This would be fair, IMHO.

Interestingly enough, Punki, Delta's short-lived companion certs (NAMU's)worked as you wished: "Medallion [elite member] must be travelling in same cabin as upgraded passenger". moreover, there was a further limit of one companion cert upgrade per elite per flight. This feature was discontinued last year as an "enhancement".
I used it once. A CTO agent who was either ignorant of the rules, or knew exactly what she was doing, upgraded both my parents on a cert each by giving them a 2nd PNR. But I digress ...

I donated my AS certs to a humanitarian project for which I'm sure I'll receive credit in the Great Beyond; thus, I am not certain whether a "no sale" warning was printed thereupon.

There definitely should be. Selling them on ebay stinks. I hope AS gets them to close those sales down. I have far less strong views against bartering.

[This message has been edited by Points Scrounger (edited 10-05-2003).]