Since CO still advertizes "unlimited standby upgrade" within two hours of departure as a main feature for Gold/Platinum, I suspect strongly that the 72 hour upgrade will not be free. Further, there is no mention about the ELTC coupons ever going to be available this year. So here is my conclusion: you can upgrade 72 hours ahead of time, but it's going to cost you 10,000 miles per pop. Given that AW and CO's elite records are not hooked on line, trying to upgrade in advance with CO elite status is going to be a real hassel.