R11 036 Find Cheap Flights to California

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from South Africa to California departing on 18/6. 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.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to California

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
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Cheap Flights to California

Cheapest return prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stopR16 537
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stopR18 022
San Diego
San Diego2 stopsR19 355
Fresno
Fresno2 stopsR30 002
San Jose
San Jose2 stopsR23 438
Los Angeles
Los Angeles1 stopR16 537
San Francisco
San Francisco1 stopR18 022
San Diego
San Diego2 stopsR19 355
Fresno
Fresno2 stopsR30 002
San Jose
San Jose2 stopsR23 438

Book Cheap California Plane Tickets

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for return flights to California that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent return flight deals to California

Tue, May 19 - Tue, May 26
Multiple Airlines Logo
19:25 - 11:30
JNB
-
LAX
25h 05m
1 stop
Multiple Airlines Logo
18:05 - 7:00
LAX
-
JNB
27h 55m
1 stop
R16 537Multiple Airlines
Mon, May 25 - Mon, Jun 8
Turkish Airlines Logo
18:00 - 11:40
JNB
-
LAX
26h 40m
1 stop
Turkish Airlines Logo
20:10 - 10:30
LAX
-
JNB
29h 20m
1 stop
R16 773Turkish Airlines
Tue, May 19 - Tue, May 26
British Airways Logo
19:25 - 18:15
JNB
-
LAX
31h 50m
1 stop
British Airways Logo
16:30 - 7:00
LAX
-
JNB
29h 30m
1 stop
R17 245British Airways
Tue, May 19 - Tue, May 26
British Airways Logo
21:15 - 22:00
JNB
-
LAX
33h 45m
2 stops
British Airways Logo
18:05 - 7:00
LAX
-
JNB
27h 55m
1 stop
R17 583British Airways
Wed, Sep 16 - Wed, Sep 23
Qatar Airways Logo
19:30 - 14:00
CPT
-
LAX
27h 30m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
16:20 - 10:15
LAX
-
CPT
32h 55m
1 stop
R19 355Qatar Airways
Thu, Jun 18 - Thu, Jan 28
Qatar Airways Logo
19:30 - 13:35
CPT
-
SFO
27h 05m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
15:00 - 10:30
SFO
-
CPT
33h 30m
1 stop
R19 405Qatar Airways
Sun, May 3 - Sun, May 10
KLM Logo
18:00 - 18:00
JNB
-
SFO
33h 00m
1 stop
KLM Logo
13:45 - 21:20
SFO
-
JNB
22h 35m
1 stop
R20 603KLM
Sun, May 3 - Sun, May 10
KLM Logo
18:00 - 18:00
JNB
-
SFO
33h 00m
1 stop
KLM Logo
10:29 - 21:20
SFO
-
JNB
25h 51m
2 stops
R20 620KLM
Mon, May 4 - Mon, May 11
Emirates Logo
18:25 - 14:00
CPT
-
SFO
28h 35m
1 stop
Emirates Logo
17:05 - 16:40
SFO
-
CPT
38h 35m
1 stop
R21 076Emirates
Fri, May 1 - Fri, May 8
Emirates Logo
19:10 - 14:00
JNB
-
SFO
27h 50m
1 stop
Emirates Logo
17:05 - 5:30
SFO
-
JNB
27h 25m
1 stop
R21 683Emirates
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to California

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest month to fly from South Africa to California?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights from South Africa to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from South Africa to California is March, when tickets cost R16 419 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and August, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is R20 198 and R19 203 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from South Africa to California?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to California, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below-average price on a flight from South Africa to California, you should book around 2 weeks before departure, which saves you about 4% compared to booking last-minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 26 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flightR11 036
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 11% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly (3% more expensive on average)
Flight from Cape Town to San Francisco

FAQs - booking California flights

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

    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 South Africa to California.

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

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

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

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

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

    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 from South Africa to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to California

  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest California flight deals.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines flying to California

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to California. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from South Africa to California. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from South Africa to California? 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.
7,7
KLMOverall score based on 1491 reviews
8,4Crew
7,8Boarding
7,1Entertainment
7,6Comfort
7,3Food
Airline reviews

The flight was delayed. The aircraft was unclean. Promised seat was not given due to change in Aircraft. Not one crew on ground was in a position to give any response. Amsterdam Airport is AVIODABLE Over crowded. Over Expensive. Poor Services.

2,0 MediocreRakesh, Mar 2026
AMS - BOM
Read more KLM reviews

The flight was delayed. The aircraft was unclean. Promised seat was not given due to change in Aircraft. Not one crew on ground was in a position to give any response. Amsterdam Airport is AVIODABLE Over crowded. Over Expensive. Poor Services.

It was really nice journey i personally recommend klm flight

The crew were unprofessional with a racist element. I was physically abused as well from one of the crew members

Crew is not the cheerful type. very slow meal service (this is their style as have flown this many times)

Flight was on time, staff are friendly and helpful onboard.

Terrible last row seats many seats available but no offer to move to better seat

Delay and had to run between flight to get my connection due to this delay but besides that the overall experience was ok. I arrived with just an hour of delay.

At the airport, terrible, I do not want to even remember it. It was too humiliating for a business class passenger.

They forgot to serve food and the crew was very unfriendly. Never experienced such a bad KLM flight. Usually fly from Toronto. New York was different.

Couldn’t get boarding pass in SLC even with help from a redcoat, so had to find a desk in AMS to get boarding pass. Technical problems so not sure why. Very inconvenient. The KLM app is not as user friendly as most apps. Also had to wait almost an hour on the tarmac for a fuel truck, which caused us to miss a connecting bus in LUX.

Seating and zone. The minor I went with didn’t even seat close to me

My seat 3G did not go down fully and the buttons were not working properly

Food has been disappointing in both legs of flight to india

Great staff great experience, made a 2 hour delay very bearable

Great staff, great experience, made a 2 hour delay very bearable

Food was the worst I’ve had on a VA flight. Normally it’s a lot better

I was my pleasure to fly virgin on my birthday for my first solo trip ever 🫶🏼

These are one of the older seat arrangements facing away from the windows! Not particularly convenient sets. No storage spaces. NO COAT HANGING HOOKS. Inconvenient business class seat compared to any other airlines of similar class. Staff are excellent! Extremely professional, friendly. Food is good too.

Overall, flight was excellent but check in was very slow for Premium Economy. Economy queue was shorter but we weren't allowed to use it.

The staff was not very polite but the flight was very very nice and comfortable and the entertainment was great

Flight left on time, arrived early, pleasant staff provided water, coffee, etc. access to bathrooms was reasonable and were well maintained. blankets were available, lots of entertainment options. LUGGAGE SERVICE WAS GREAT. I got my one checked bag quickly and was able to make a bus connection for a 2 hour bus ride saving me from waiting another 1.5 hours.

Terrible, if possible won't be flying again anytime soon!

Wonderful in-seat entertainment with seatback screens and huge selection of quality movies. The ability to bluetooth connect headphones was amazing.

we did a return flight from Paris CDG to SFO. This trip was much better than the departing flight SFO to CDG. The food was better quality, the crew was nicer, and the interior of the plane seemed cleaner.

Horrible service no Wi-Fi connection on both leg of the flight and they are refusing to fix bad service

We got to get extended leg room in Econ plus that was great. It was nice having our own dietary needs met with our meals, and the connecting flights had it as well. Only negative were the seats my bottom was/is really sore after a ten plus hour flight. Those seats are horrible, understandable for as many people use them. So we are going to purchase a gel seat pad.

Flight to Japan was was better across the board than the return to USA. Entertainment: Movie selection was old and not to my liking. Way too many woke choices. Not enough selections for sports or drama. Service: some of the crew were great. Not all. I paid for business class. a premium. Some of the crew thought they 'had' t do there job instead of wanting to serve and be polite. Food: Way to Japan was good. Way back to USA bad. Boarding: Wat out did not offer Business only; had to go thru general. If you pay for business, you should get business perks. Suggest you look for other than United for travel to Asia

I will never fly ANA again. They lost one of my large pieces of checked luggage, the heaviest one with the most valuable items in it, and they said they will not send me an email unless they can't find it, even though the paper they gave me to track the status of my lost luggage requires a code from an email they are supposed to send me so I can do baggage tracing. They claim to be an international airline, but they also insist on calling a Japanese telephone number to confirm where to send the lost baggage if they find it. It is impossible to find an actual contact email address for customer support on their website, and their AI chatbot is unhelpful, directing you to a webpage that says it is for contact information but does not have any actual email addresses or phone numbers listed on it. My seat in economy did not recline at all, even though I was not sitting in an exit row nor the very back row. I had to sit in the fully upright position for over ten hours of international travel. Awful experience overall.

The head flight attendant made the trip excellent. He was very accommodating.

The economy seats on the 777 was not as cramped as I had feared, but the food was terrible.

had to wait 1 hour once boarded. so we were 1 hour late arriving.

They are absolutely impossible to get hold of. A death in the family caused us to delay our departure. They are impossible to get through to and after waiting 41/2 hours I was told they would not consider helping us. They cancelled our return flight and have not reimbursed anything. I strongly urge readers to consider a different airline.

A lot of snacks and provided on request by traveller. Preferred meals which were on their menu were not always sufficient for those who wanted them. We were told 2 different items and offer which we asked for were not offered initially. We rejected the 3rd item given as a substitute for our initial choices which we didn't want and so we didn't accept it. Eventually our initial choice was offered. During service of coffee and tea, the crew member didn't offer us and moved back. Luckily neither of us wanted tea at that time. Crew members must avoid behavior that may be suggestive of discrimination

The crew was awesome. My husband fell while traveling to the WC and got a head abrasion. The crew helped him greatly and a physician that was also on the flight checked him out as well. They all get an A+!

Online check in and seat assignments are terrible. All 4 flights

Cabin was kept very hot and it was uncomfortable. Entertainment system did not work at my seat. Crew and service is fantastic

Extremely bad BAD BAD BAD. NEVER TURKISH AIRLINES EVER AGAIN..PIRATES COMPANY.

Typically great service from Turkish with comfortable seat and amenitie, good food and great attention from staff.

Delicious food, comfortable and clean plane. It's a little cramped in the hall in front of the gate.

Very hot cabin made long flight uncomfortable, even in business class! Food was great. Istanbul business lounge had great food but too few bathrooms and seating . They also need more electric outlets for charging devices. Appreciate the ability to go through fast track lines w business class

Everything was spectacular except the boarding. It was just a mob of people while all groups were called over the public address system.

The Britts are wonderful to fly with and the crew were very hospitable. Again, I really wish they had been able to retrieve my carryon bag from baggage claim before the flight so I could be in a less worrisome state of mind, but that's not on them. I completely understand. The window seats with the dimmable windows were very cool!

There was a delay for the San Francisco-London flight, but we were all informed via text and email. The staff was very friendly and nice and the food was good. I do recommend that the airline offer something without eggs or something vegan for the vegetarian meal option. A lot of Indians are lacto-vegetarian, while some could be allergic to eggs/dairy.

food options were terrible. for a 10-hour flight, there should be 2 decent meals. Also, flight attendants should come around with drinks more than just at the meals.

Smooth flight. The seats were comfortable but the reclining mechanism didn't work very well. My wife's seat required the flight attendant to push the seat forward while she pushed the button. The leg support didn't want to return to its home under the seat. I ordered the diabetic meal which was full of carbs. It was low in sugar but carbs turn into sugar so was it really diabetic? Overall the flight was pleasant, long but pleasant.

Crew were nice, food was good. Boarding was horrendous. We were driven around the airport in a bus forced to climb a long flight of very steep stairs with no adequate handrails to board the plane . In many many years of flying to the US I have never been required to do this . There was no assistance for those needing help getting up the stairs to the plane. A fellow passenger helped me. No idea how other elderly, physically limited passengers or those with young children managed . It was a full flight with crowds trying to get up the stairs. It was an accident waiting to happen.

Horrible, the plane is just old and junky...Filthy restroom, seat was as hard as rock. The food, mystery side dish, inedible..geez..just Horrible. Never flying BA again

We paid for Business Class seats, but system did not have us and they were not available.

the service on Business class should be improved to be at par with industry leaders like Cathay Pacific and Singapore AIrlines. A lot of room for improvement.

I paid for a very expensive Business Class seat to and from Cairo Egypt from Charleston SC. There was partnership from states to London using American Airlines. That leg was amazing. The British Airlines leg was a joke. They used the standard no leg room 3 by 3 seats. A tray was put on the middle seat. The trip was 5 hours, from London to Cairo, thus my BC purchase. There was no screen proving tv/movie options, only a small device plug. The fold down tray and the bag of peanuts were typical of normal short run flying. The one toilet was located in the galley. We all got to know each other well. This was my first and last trip with British Airlines. I now understand why they would NEVER give me a seat chart so that I could make a selection.prior to departure. It honestly would not have made a difference, there were less than 50% of occupied seats. Apparently everyone got the memo but me. I have never felt so cheated as with that trip, got to so another going back to London, yeah. I will be sending a letter to customer service and asking for a refund. I will be photos comparing the two BC legs. OH, one more thing. The FC ticket holders got bulkhead and exit row seats. I know they had to be thrilled

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to California

Cabin classes available on flights to California. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.