Average Family Summer Travel Cost, $4,580 – Obamas’ Flight From Orlando to Mass., $359,500

By Penny Starr  August 16, 2013

The average American family of four will spend $4,580 on vacation travel this summer while the Obamas will spend about $359,000 in air travel alone to get to Cape Cod, enroute to Martha's Vineyard for their vacation -- and that's just the one-way flight. According to American Express' 2013 survey on summer vacation travel, the average expense per person in the United States is $1,145, or $4,580 for a family of four. For contrast, the cost of flying President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama from Orlando, Fla. to Massachusetts on Aug. 10 was $359,000. That cost estimate is based upon a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that puts the price of operating Air Force One at $179,750 an hour. The $359,000 is only for the flight from Orlando to the Coast Guard Air Station on Cape Cod -- it does not include the cost of flying the Obamas aboard the helicopter Marine One from Cape Cod to the island Martha’s Vineyard. According the Martha’s Vineyard Times, based on press pool reports, the president and first lady boarded Air Force One on Saturday, Aug. 10 in Orlando at 1:20 p.m. and arrived at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Code in Massachusetts at 3:24 p.m. The couple was then transported by helicopter and motorcade to the $7.6 million home they rented for their 8-day stay…..To Read More….