Originally Posted by
milesforhire
If you have a ton of AA miles and plan to fly AA heavily via award flights, is it worth pursuing AA Gold? Reading the upgrade thread, it doesn't look like those 500-mile stickers work for award flights. Do MCE seats and Same-Day Standby (with fee waiver) work for award travel? Any other benefits get blocked for award flights?
Concierge Key and Executive Platinum can upgrade awards with 500 mile e-upgrades. Imo, it’s definitely not worth going to the trouble of earning Gold if you’re going to be flying some award flights. If you like some of the Gold benefits, the more useful ones are easily gained with the proper credit card. See
What are AA ♦️Gold / GLD Benefits? Are they worth it? (Master thd)