Putting aside the unlikely business class upgrade, if you're both on the same reservation you can get Main Cabin Extra seats right now by just selecting them on the seat map and paying the fee, which for a Gold is 1/2 price. They will be perfectly fine and less than $100 each way per person additional. You'll find it to be money well spent when you look behind you at the Main Cabin seating with less legroom. You may even be able to find some exit row seats with superb legroom.

Taking it a step higher, you can also call AA and ask for the price to upfare to Premium Economy. Online, it seems to price out at about $600-$1000 more (roundtrip) than the cheaper Main Cabin fares. Steep, maybe. Depends on how you value the hard product and your budget.