Business travel isn’t always about time off from the family: Some companies fly executives’ wives too. (A range of proxy reports reveal no C.E.O.s’ husbands flying on the company dime.)

Last year, Wal-Mart paid for two board members’ “spousal travel expenses, meals, and related ­activities” (plus tax grossups). A $31,221 tally for James Cash Jr. included travel for his wife, Clemmie, and the $27,285 total for Roger Corbett covered his wife, Rosemary.

Until January, New York Times Co. vice chairman Michael Golden was publisher of the International Herald Tribune. The company spent $28,867 last year to fly his wife, Anne, between New York and Paris.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that a cruise-industry giant knows how to pamper an executive’s family. Royal Caribbean Cruises last year covered $17,992 worth of “membership dues, discounts on company cruises, and expenses for spousal travel” for chairman and C.E.O. Richard Fain and his wife, Colleen.

But even relatively unsexy companies seem to know the value of a change of scenery. Pioneer Natural Resources spent $58,818 on travel and entertainment for chairman and C.E.O. Scott Sheffield’s wife, Colleen. The contract of Ronald Halls, president and C.E.O. of Foot Locker, permits his wife, Jennifer, to accompany him on as many as eight business trips annually. Last year, such jaunts cost the company $91,499.

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