American Express Membership Rewards - Luck w/ AMEX Platinum Int'l Award Program?

I'm considering upgrading my free gold AMEX through Fidelity to a Platinum for a reduced rate of $320. I travel internationally 5-6 times a year and am wondering what anyone's experience has been with the complimentary companion ticket? Are these capacity controlled similar to award seats?
How about access to the airline clubs..is it as easy as they make it out to be?

Thanks

There is no trick. You pay full fare and you get two tickets. It's usually cheaper to pay for two discounted business class tickets. Some find that their company won't pay for a second ticket but will pay for a full fare ticket.

As far as the clubs are concerned -- if you fly on a partner airline whose club you wish to gain access to, just show your Amex card and your same-day boarding pass. To me, this is a much better benefit than the "free" airline tickets.

I've flown a couple of times on the Amex Platinum Int'l Airline Program 2-for-1 and can give my experience. On many airlines, the inventory is more limited than full-fare business or first class, but nowhere near that of award inventory. For example, on CO, these seats come out of Z inventory. On CX, I believe that I is used. So, once you find out what the booking class is for your desired airline, you can search for availability yourself on ITN. If you browse ITN, you will see that getting availability in the required class isn't all that difficult unless the flight is almost sold out.

Also, even though you're paying "full fare" for one ticket and get the other one for free, both reservations come out of the restricted fare bucket. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your comments...Since NW offers Z (discounted business class) fares from time to time, I think it may be worth getting the platinum.