American Express Membership Rewards - 2 for 1 Domestic Coach for family of 4

What's the best way of taking advantage of the 2 for 1 Domestic Coach for a family of 4? We only have 1 platinum card in the family, have not decided of whether to apply for a supplement card for my wife or not. If I purchase 1 ticket from PTS, then I'll get the companion ticket for free. But what should I do with the other 2 tickets, since the PTS usually have a higher ticket price, for the rest of the 2 tickets should I purchase the other 2 via other travel agent / travel site?

What's the best way of taking advantage of the 2 for 1 Domestic Coach for a family of 4? We only have 1 platinum card in the family, have not decided of whether to apply for a supplement card for my wife or not. If I purchase 1 ticket from PTS, then I'll get the companion ticket for free. But what should I do with the other 2 tickets, since the PTS usually have a higher ticket price, for the rest of the 2 tickets should I purchase the other 2 via other travel agent / travel site?

My advice- See if the savings of 2 tickets (make sure to take into account the taxes and service charges) is more than the fee for the supplementary card. If you save more, then you should get a 2nd card and try to get 2 for 1 on each account. Also make sure you are available to get the same itinerary for each card (ie- get both itins placed on hold before you confirm and pay).

If I purchase 1 ticket from PTS, then I'll get the companion ticket for free.

PTS does not offer this benefit. The Domestic Companion Fare Program is operated by API, and you may be able to obtain a companion ticket for the cost of taxes and fees, but the offer is capacity controlled, there are blackout periods, and the tickets are not "free".

https://www143.americanexpress.com/cards/platinum/benefit.do?benefitTemplate=template_faq&benefitId=domesticcompairfareprogfaq

As MIA mentioned above, it does have to be booked through API representative.
Please note that API is not open 24 hrs a day.

If I would be in your situation, I would order an additional card for your wife and she would be also eligible for 4 domestic companion certificates per year. Also keep in mind that her card fee will be prorated and if you want, you can even cancel it after you use this benefit.

Here's another way to cut the cost of the supplemental card to less than zero, provided your circumstances allow. Do you have parents, siblings, or very close (trustworthy) friends who could also use the companion ticket benefit? If so, you may be able to take advantage of the fact that that $175 additional card fee (or is it $200 now?) will get you not just one, but up to three supplemental cards, all for the one supplemental fee.

So let's say your parents and your wife's parents each would also like to have up to 4 free companion tickets per year. Let's assume you're paying $450 for the plat card and $200 for the supplemental. So for a total of $650, you get a card for you, one for your wife (now your family is taken care of), and one for your parents and one for her parents. If they value the benefit, I think it's reasonable to ask them to share evenly in the total cost, which works out to just $163.50 per card. If it's worth $200 for your wife's card, it's likely worth $163.50 to your parents (assuming they travel and can use the benefit). This cuts your total cost for two cards to less than what you're paying for just the one right now, and everyone has a cost low enough to more than recoup with just one trip per year.

And here's yet another way to finesse it. I was going to go with the plan above, but have not yet because I have two platinum Delta Skymiles Amex credit cards (one personal and one business), which each get me a free companion ticket (limited to one trip each on Delta, but otherwise less restricted than the Amex plat. charge card program) with each annual card renewal. Since my family's only likely to travel twice this calendar year (the plat charge card is per calendar year, not per card membership year), I got just the one plat charge card (a business one, since the fee was cheaper) and I'm using two of the four companion tickets in conjunction with the Delta companion certs for those two trips.

The plat charge card cuts the annual fee on the DL cards from $135 either to $85 or by $85 each (don't recall which), so for two trips per year I can meet the family's (4 pax) needs for less than the $175 or $200 for the supplemental card.

Thanks for all the valuable inputs and advice. Now I'll definitely consider getting another card for my wife. :)