When US President Barack Obama touches down in Brisbane in a fortnight for the G20 a significant number of members of the White House press gallery will be back in Washington DC.
The reason? There's 60,000 reasons.
To the shock of America's major news organisations, the cost per seat on the press charter plane that will follow Obama's Air Force One on his trip to Australia, China and Myanmar (Burma) is $US60,000 ($A64,915).
That doesn't include hotel stays, meals, ground travel costs and the rental of ballrooms for press filing centres.
Just 51 media members, about half of the usual number for a similar trip, have signed up.
The Washington Post reported media companies reacted with "surprise and exasperation" when the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), which makes press travel arrangements, announced the cost.
The bill for the trip, which begins on November 9, is expected to be one-third more than what it cost to cover Obama's trip to Africa last year or to Asia in 2012.
The charter plane will follow Air Force One through Asia, allowing reporters to stay close to the president and avoid flight and airport delays associated with commercial travel.
The cost of the charter is determined by a competitive bid among air carriers based on the number of media members signed up for the trip.
If more made the trip, the cost per person would fall.
The Post will have one reporter on the tour.
The Wall Street Journal, Tribune Newspapers, Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Reuters and Agence France-Presse are among the organisations committed to travel.
"No one is happy about it, and the WHCA board and the TV producers are looking at some creative ways to cut charter costs in the future," WHCA president Christi Parsons wrote in an email to members.
The smaller media contingent might also reflect declining interest in Obama given his lame-duck status immediately after the midterm elections.
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