The top three spenders on the travel perks for the year so far are divorcees who have recently remarried or found new partners.
Over all ministers, the average spending on the perk was about $10,600 for the first nine months of the year.
However, some spent nearly three times that amount.
Act New Zealand leader Rodney Hide topped the list until he repaid $22,000 of his $34,000 tab for taking his partner, Louise Crome, with him to Hawaii and on a ministerial trip in Europe.
Northland MP John Carter's bill for spousal travel for the nine months of the year so far was the next highest he topped $31,000 and ACC Minister Nick Smith's was $26,000.
The figures are on top of their own domestic travel and ministerial official travel and could be a mixture of spouses, children and private international holidays.
John Carter married wife Leoni in January 2008 and Nick Smith married Linley Newport this April.
Rodney Hide's relationship with Louise Crome is also relatively new - about two years old.
A spokesman for Mr Carter said he had not been overseas either officially or personally this year, and put the high cost down to the lengthy commute between Wellington and Northland.
ACC Minister Nick Smith was the second-highest spender - about $26,000 over the nine-month period.
Dr Smith married in April and honeymooned in Asia, but a spokesman said he had paid for it himself rather than use his 90% travel subsidy.
He said Dr Smith's wife went with him on an overseas delegation in March but her costs were included in the cost of the delegation.
There were also ministers with longer-standing marriages in the top five.
Education Minister Anne Tolley's total of $17,000 included an overseas holiday with her husband at a cost of $4120, for which she used her travel perk.
Finance Minister Bill English was also in the top five although a significant portion of his $16,000 bill was the cost of shuttling up to six children to Dipton and back.
MPs' children can get up to four return trips from their home electorates to Wellington each year. Mr English had not taken his wife with him internationally nor used his international holiday discount.
The figures show MPs get varying levels of benefit from the perk, which has been defended by an argument that MPs' base salaries are lower to take it into account.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully spent just $327 on it - and six others spent less than $5000.
Other ministers who have revealed their own costs include United Future leader Peter Dunne, whose wife went with him to Europe at a cost of $12,000.
Agriculture Minister David Carter also took his wife to Europe for a similar cost.
Phil Heatley and his wife used his 75% discount for a holiday in the Cook Islands.
- Claire Trevett of the New Zealand Herald.
