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R13 268 Find cheap flights from San Francisco to South Africa

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from San Francisco to South Africa departing on 4/11. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
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Best South Africa Flight Deals

Cheapest return prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours

Cape Town
Cape Town1 stopR17 155
George
George2 stopsR23 450

Good to know

Low season

February

High season

December

Cheapest flight

R13 268
Best time to beat the crowds (13% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (17% more expensive on average)
Flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg

FAQs - booking South Africa flights

  • Is it a good idea to buy a ticket with an airport change during a layover?

    It depends. Some tickets from SFO to South Africa require you to change airports within a city during a layover or to collect your bags and check in again for the next leg of your flight. This can be time-consuming, and getting across town to another airport could get expensive. Before you book a ticket with a re-check-in or an airport change, make sure that the ticket leaves you enough time to do it and that all aspects of the change or the re-check-in are feasible.

  • What documentation do I need in order to fly to South Africa?

    US citizens flying to South Africa need a valid passport that is still valid at least 30 days beyond the date when you enter South Africa. This passport must have two consecutive empty pages per entry. You do not need a visa if you plan to leave South Africa in 90 days or fewer.

  • Does SFO have therapy dogs?

    Yes. When you are at SFO waiting for your flight to South Africa, you might encounter the Wag Brigade, therapy dogs roaming Departures with their trained handlers. SFO hopes these therapy dogs can delight, distract, and comfort passengers waiting to travel. The Wag Brigade includes several dogs, a pig, and a rabbit.

  • Does SFO have a hotel at the airport?

    Yes. If you would like to stay at the airport the night before your flight to South Africa, consider staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at SFO. Connected to all of the terminals by way of the free AirTrain, this upscale hotel offers free Wi-Fi, room service, a fitness center, a business center, and much more.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Francisco to South Africa?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from San Francisco to South Africa.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from San Francisco to South Africa?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to South Africa from San Francisco is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from San Francisco to South Africa?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional return ticket. You could then fly to South Africa with an airline and back to San Francisco with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from San Francisco to South Africa?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to South Africa from San Francisco up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to South Africa

  • Morning departure is around 20% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
  • San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is a hub for Alaska Airlines. When you fly from the shores of the San Francisco Bay to South Africa, you will have many choices of destination city, airline, flight time, and price.
  • When you fly from SFO to Johannesburg, chances are you will be landing at the O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB). Turkish Airlines, Delta, and KLM are among the airlines that offer one-stop flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg. Some common layover cities include Istanbul, Atlanta, Amsterdam, and others. Alaska Airlines, Ethiopian Air, and United are among the carriers that offer two-stop flights from SFO to JNB.
  • If you want to fly from SFO to Cape Town at the southern tip of South Africa, you'll most likely be landing in the Cape Town International Airport (CPT). Turkish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, and KLM are among the carriers that offer one-stop flights from SFO to CPT, with layovers in cities such as Istanbul, Zurich, and Amsterdam. KLM, Ethiopian Air, and Delta are among the airlines that offer two-stop flights from SFO to CPT.
  • If you want to fly to Durban on the east coast of South Africa, you will most likely be landing at the King Shaka International Airport (DUR). Qatar Airways, SWISS, and Turkish Airlines are among the many carriers that offer two-stop and three-stop flights from SFO to DUR., with stops in Istanbul, Johannesburg, Paris, and others.
  • If you are flying into the city of Pietermaritzburg, about an hour inland from Durban, you will most likely be landing at the Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB). You can find two-stop flights from SFO to PZB on airlines such as Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, with stops in cities such as Istanbul, Johannesburg, and Doha.
See more tips
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 4 airlines serving from San Francisco to South Africa

Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Francisco to South Africa? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7,6
Qatar AirwaysOverall score based on 4007 reviews
7,6Comfort
7,5Food
7,7Boarding
7,6Entertainment
8,1Crew
Airline reviews

Delayed my flights and no communication. We end up spending 6 hrs in Doha. No food or any concern from the airline. Terrible

2,0 MediocreAnonymous, Aug 2024SFO - DOH
Read more Qatar Airways reviews

Delayed my flights and no communication. We end up spending 6 hrs in Doha. No food or any concern from the airline. Terrible

Check in desk people constrained by fear. Obvious typo on Uganda visa, even though approved, caused loss of flight. Something is definitely wrong with this system.

Between Air India and Qatar my luggage was lost for three days. I eventually found my own luggage location using the Apple Air Tag. Air India used a paper form to report my lost luggage. I could never get past getting past luggage personnel with my report number before they would hang up on me. Only after them specifically telling Air India at Chandigarh airport where my luggage was located which was right under their noses did they react. After three days I finally received my luggage. The Air India luggage folks didn’t seem proactive in finding the luggage’s rightful owner.

Besides the flight cancellation, everything else was prefect. Kudos to Malaysian Airlines.

Operated by American Airlines. Very chaotic and the crew was bit rough responding any enquiries. Restricted leg space.. Qatar would have been better

Qatar airways from Doha to guangzhau was excellent big bird Boeing 777 more room and smoothly flight, I Love it

It was good no problems made it on time for the next flight overseas!

The made us waiting and held our passports and boarding pass making us miss our flights

Not impressed. Only allowed one carry on on such a long flight.

The flight was good but my neighbor had the vent open full power for the whole flight and because the air was blowing from the side instead of from the top and I got very cold and ended up with a sore throat.

My only complaint is that the pocket in front of me was ripped and my things, like iPad and airline magazines, kept slipping to the floor.

Flight delayed yet again. Crew apathetic and unhelpful re affect on connecting flight.

I think Virgin is one of the best flying experiences, especially from/to the UK. The staff are so helpful and fun, the food is good, seats comfortable, goof entertainment and great value. Check in and boarding is pretty pain free. I also find that the other passengers are generally so kind and considerate than when I've flown other airlines.

Cabin crew on our flight showed lack of any customer service gruff and acting annoyed if you asked anything and I mean anything Example a man on the seat over dropped his beer on my husbands blanket We asked if we could switch out blankets cabin crew Said. No we don’t have any extras OK well can you take the wet one Cabin crew looked disgusted and annoyed Took it no OK or yes just a growl

Quick flight. But cabin crew were very noisy and talking too much, especially when we were seated at the back of the plane trying to sleep through the night .

My ticket was for Premium Economy and all the seats were taken, I was placed in Economy class and I’m looking for a refund.

Unfortunately delayed 2 hrs due to faulty tyre.. which had to be changed, but better safe than sorry.

The delay was an issue. Other than that. Every thing good

Hi vergin Atlantic service was good but the flight ticket agent travel up charge me extra 57 pounds as a airport charges, actually I refuse to pay but they say if I not pay £57 then they say you will not be able to travel from Heathrow to goa ,so for me there was no option and it was just 3 day before my departure so i paid, so please look in to the matter. And I have a receipt of £ 57 as well .thanks

Staff didn’t check cabin well for landing seemed more interested in chatting to each other. Food was poor and differed from pre order.

Stale, bad and limited food, drink options. Entertainment system was broken, old and had barely any latest contents.

Love that they had a bassinet for our child during the flight. Thank you for that big time.

We are thankful for the useful gifts provided by the airline.The entertainment and crew were also very good

The flight encountered weather turbulences and it was scary at times but the pilot was outstanding! The food is outstanding! The crew was great. Only thing is the flight path map could be better (Reference: Emirates) Also would be nice to have more choice of soft drinks during the flight since it is a long flight. If the crews coming around with water instead of us going to the crew area asking.

Amazing, great airlines to go in business class. Hospitality is amazing. Food is great and lounge in Istanbul is at another level.

Overall it was a pretty good experience until I arrived in Accra and my suitcase was left in turkey.

My experience with Turkish airlines has been pretty good. I connected from Istanbul to Tirana Albania. One of my luggage’s didn’t come. Very disappointed with that, we had our year old grandson with us! Babiest things were in that bag . Hopefully I get the bag tomorrow or next day !

Awful. They cancelled my seats and demanded $1360 to rebook me

United failed me in cancelling flight to Chicago. Then put me on American Airlines standby to Miami for onward connection to RMO via IST. Standby failed. They looked me for Sunday morning 24 hours late at this point). Made it to Miami but Turkish airlines cancelled my seats and demanded $1360 to rebook the flights for the following day ! I went to United, spent two hours negotiating with Mr Ruis ? Who said he could do anything for me as he could fix problems that United caused in Miami. He suggested I call the 800 number. When I managed to.get through on my 6th call, I was on hold 2 hours and 30 minutes waiting for an agent when the call was cut off by United phone system. I went back to American. At last a lady , who had zero responsibility in this fiasco, helped me to find a replacement flight that night with Polish airlines to RMO through Warsaw at a cost of $968 including bag charge. I booked it with only a few hours to spare. The lady at American helped to recover and redirect my checked suitcase that had arrived in Miami a day earlier United customer service were awful. United partner Turkish airlines were horrendous and took zero responsibility. I ended up being late to my appointment overseas by 45 hours with zero compensation, no food vouchers, no replacement flights until I found one and paid for it myself. I reporting the entire fiasco to the secretary of state for Tennessee for law violations and refusal to remedy and compensate. I now need help to extend the trip by two days but United are not responding to communications

I was flying with Turkish Airlines from Tashkent to Dallas and from Dallas to Tashkent. In both directions the flights were late. I missed my connecting flight from Istanbul to Dallas in Istanbul airport because of that. That led to a no show case with a rental company in Dallas and I lost 460 US dollars. On the way from Dallas to Tashkent with a layover in Istanbul the plane was also late and I almost missed my connecting flight to Tashkent. Then my bag did not arrive with the same plane and only on the next morning flight from Istanbul. I was about to leave Tashkent the same day to Astana in Kazakhstan and then from there for work in Saudi Arabia. Luckily I had an excess in time before the next flight and I manage to get my bag back. Otherwise I would have missed 3 flights automatically because I couldn't travel for work without my bag and all valuables in it. So, overall, very bad experience with Turkish Airlines. Will never use these airlines again.

Flight was quite late as there was no pilot Crew is usually excellent, this flight not as good as usual there were more mistakes, slower and less friendly service But honestly the aircraft was too cramped and uncomfortable for a 4 hour flying get so, do to the aircraft liability the very best you could ever do is mediocre.

It was so uncomfortable for 14 straight hours it was torture

Absolute disaster. Rude, uncooperative staff. Staff ignores and pretends you don’t exist when you are asking them a question. Erroneous departure gate and baggage claim information. Equipment not working for purchase of drinks. Overly expensive baggage check-in fees. Overly crowded. Dirty airplane. Passengers coughing incessantly as if they were being gassed. Circled airport in flight several times and waited on the tarmac for 1.5 hours. The worst experience ever. Consider another industry. The travel industry is not for you.

The pairing of personal Bluetooth headset did not work, provided headset did not work, then the screen locked and therefore no in-flight entertainment was available.

Our flight was delayed several times. It left 9 hours after scheduling. We had to sleep in the airport.

This flight was 2.5 hours delayed due to crew issues. This meant that we arrived after 2 AM. Very very inconvenient and we were not really kept well informed.

Everyone on board was great. It was just super late and we missed our connection in Frankfurt, and had to power through jet lag while we waited 4 hours in the terminal. My family missed a big welcome dinner in Berlin.

United is today and old, the planes, the staff, the business processes. Yet they expect premium prices for a less than average flight experience. I should have remembered to stay away from them and will remember to stay away from them in the future since I'm traveling a lot again. In a nutshell, they suck eggs.

Two staff were rude, loud and burnt out I think. Two were friendly kind and helpful.

Frankfurt airport is the worst. Passengers are forced to use stairs to get to the terminal or catch a shuttle. Very inconvenient for passengers who are ambulatory challenged or have physical handicaps.

Book cheap flights from San Francisco to South Africa

Recent return flight deals

24/9Tue
2 stopsKenya Airways
42h 15mSFO-JNB
2/10Wed
2 stopsKenya Airways
33h 16mJNB-SFO
R17 013
12/11Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
31h 10mSFO-CPT
16/1Thu
1 stopTurkish Airlines
27h 50mCPT-SFO
R17 155
7/10Mon
1 stopQatar Airways
39h 50mSFO-JNB
20/10Sun
1 stopQatar Airways
33h 15mJNB-SFO
R18 849
9/10Wed
1 stopQatar Airways
39h 50mSFO-JNB
20/10Sun
1 stopQatar Airways
33h 15mJNB-SFO
R19 153
3/2Mon
2 stopsDelta
34h 50mSFO-CPT
18/2Tue
1 stopDelta
30h 11mCPT-SFO
R19 616
22/1Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
30h 11mSFO-CPT
5/2Wed
1 stopUnited Airlines
28h 05mCPT-SFO
R19 812
22/1Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
30h 11mSFO-CPT
5/2Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
33h 14mCPT-SFO
R19 991
3/2Mon
2 stopsDelta
34h 50mSFO-CPT
18/2Tue
2 stopsDelta
42h 24mCPT-SFO
R20 508
15/11Fri
1 stopVirgin Atlantic
32h 50mSFO-JNB
30/11Sat
1 stopVirgin Atlantic
29h 15mJNB-SFO
R25 127
15/11Fri
2 stopsVirgin Atlantic
35h 35mSFO-JNB
30/11Sat
1 stopVirgin Atlantic
29h 15mJNB-SFO
R25 198

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Recent one-way flight deals

4/11Mon
2 stopsRwandAir
37h 55mSFO-JNB
R13 268
29/11Fri
3 stops
53h 40mSFO-CPT
R13 785
29/11Fri
1 stopQatar Airways
40h 40mSFO-CPT
R14 106
31/10Thu
2 stopsQatar Airways
44h 37mSFO-CPT
R14 766
3/12Tue
1 stopLufthansa
25h 05mSFO-CPT
R15 925
31/10Thu
1 stopTurkish Airlines
31h 10mSFO-CPT
R18 814
8/10Tue
2 stopsUnited Airlines
32h 10mSFO-JNB
R20 597
15/12Sun
1 stopLufthansa
24h 30mSFO-JNB
R21 150
30/10Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
29h 45mSFO-CPT
R21 614
23/10Wed
1 stopTurkish Airlines
30h 55mSFO-JNB
R57 494

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Last minute flights from San Francisco to South Africa

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

12/9Thu
multi-stopUnited Airlines
25h 20mSFO-CPT
27/9Fri
multi-stopUnited Airlines
30h 43mCPT-SFO
R18 849
9/9Mon
multi-stopDelta
26h 50mSFO-CPT
26/9Thu
multi-stopDelta
33h 42mCPT-SFO
R19 438
11/9Wed
multi-stopDelta
35h 15mSFO-CPT
18/9Wed
multi-stopDelta
33h 29mCPT-SFO
R19 509
9/9Mon
multi-stopSWISS
36h 00mSFO-CPT
26/9Thu
multi-stopSWISS
51h 30mCPT-SFO
R20 294
9/9Mon
multi-stopUnited Airlines
22h 05mSFO-CPT
26/9Thu
multi-stopUnited Airlines
24h 49mCPT-SFO
R25 359
9/9Mon
multi-stopKenya Airways
55h 40mSFO-CPT
26/9Thu
multi-stopKenya Airways
52h 23mCPT-SFO
R27 962
12/9Thu
multi-stopEthiopian Air
29h 40mSFO-CPT
27/9Fri
multi-stopEthiopian Air
33h 53mCPT-SFO
R28 069
9/9Mon
multi-stopKenya Airways
55h 40mSFO-CPT
26/9Thu
multi-stopKenya Airways
30h 56mCPT-SFO
R30 905
11/9Wed
multi-stop
54h 25mSFO-CPT
18/9Wed
multi-stop
56h 30mCPT-SFO
R31 333
11/9Wed
multi-stop
45h 45mSFO-CPT
18/9Wed
multi-stop
43h 43mCPT-SFO
R39 429

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Everything you need to know for your flight from San Francisco to South Africa

Information on your arrival and departure airports