Well, to complain about not getting upgraded on the most popular transcontinental routes is a bit misplaced. If they are the most popular then there are passengers that fly those routes more than you - ie more important customers to AA. If it were my business, I'd do the same thing.

As a gold your a mid-tier customer - better to AA than your average vacationer, but certainly not a top tier customer generating huge amounts of revenue. AA has to choose which customers to reward and they are choosing to attempt to make their highest revenue customers feel that they receive a bit more value. Can't blame AA for that - sounds like one of the few good decisions they've made business wise over the past few years.