Originally Posted by
rittenhousesq
This is the best advice so far! In addition, you could consider getting a Priority Pass membership. There is a pretty decent selection of PP lounges worldwide. Getting *A Gold status for the lounges is one thing, but the OP also mentioned upgrades. For that, don't waste your money! The days of people with Gold status being upgraded are long gone!
It still happens. I had a family member get upgrades on flights to and out of HNL, however, it was a HNL-LAX/LAX-HNL flight late at night and the HNL-LAX segment was on the afternoon of the 4th of July so very unusual circumstances.