R4 299 Find Cheap Flights to Istanbul

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight to Istanbul departing on 13/2. 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 Istanbul

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Istanbul
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Istanbul
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Everything you should know

Cheapest return fare
R8 360
Typical prices: R8 304-R9 391
Qatar Airways
Thu 26/2Sat 7/3
JNB - SAW • 1 stop
Cheapest direct flights
R12 373
Typical prices: R10 359-R13 801
Turkish Airlines
Wed 11/3Tue 17/3
JNB - IST • Direct
Top routes
JNB
-
TR5
Cheapest
CPT
-
TR5
Most popular
Insights
Insights
Insights
Insights
Start a new search
KAYAK searches hundreds of sites at once to find you the best travel deals.
We hope you love your trip to Istanbul!
Flight Deals
Booking Insights
Flight Deals

Cheap Flights to Istanbul

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for return flights to Istanbul 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 Istanbul

Thu, Feb 26 - Sat, Mar 7
Qatar Airways Logo
12:45 - 12:10
JNB
-
SAW
22h 25m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
13:40 - 3:55
SAW
-
JNB
15h 15m
1 stop
R8 360Qatar Airways
Fri, Apr 24 - Wed, May 6
Qatar Airways Logo
14:45 - 12:10
JNB
-
SAW
20h 25m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
13:35 - 8:50
SAW
-
JNB
20h 15m
1 stop
R8 519Qatar Airways
Wed, Feb 4 - Wed, Feb 11
Qatar Airways Logo
13:45 - 12:10
JNB
-
SAW
21h 25m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
13:40 - 15:35
SAW
-
JNB
26h 55m
1 stop
R8 646Qatar Airways
Wed, Feb 18 - Mon, Mar 16
Qatar Airways Logo
20:30 - 12:20
JNB
-
IST
14h 50m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
13:50 - 3:55
IST
-
JNB
15h 05m
1 stop
R8 646Qatar Airways
Thu, Feb 12 - Sun, Feb 15
Emirates Logo
13:40 - 18:30
CPT
-
IST
27h 50m
1 stop
Emirates Logo
23:40 - 11:40
IST
-
CPT
37h 00m
1 stop
R9 804Emirates
Mon, Feb 16 - Mon, Mar 2
Emirates Logo
13:40 - 14:25
CPT
-
IST
23h 45m
1 stop
Emirates Logo
16:25 - 16:45
IST
-
CPT
25h 20m
1 stop
R10 153Emirates
Wed, May 13 - Wed, May 27
KLM Logo
7:40 - 17:05
CPT
-
SAW
32h 25m
1 stop
KLM Logo
14:40 - 21:25
SAW
-
CPT
31h 45m
1 stop
R10 724KLM
Fri, Apr 24 - Sat, May 2
KLM Logo
7:40 - 17:05
CPT
-
SAW
32h 25m
1 stop
KLM Logo
8:50 - 21:25
SAW
-
CPT
37h 35m
1 stop
R10 740KLM
Wed, Mar 25 - Fri, Apr 3
Multiple Airlines Logo
17:45 - 17:25
DUR
-
SAW
22h 40m
2 stops
Multiple Airlines Logo
8:50 - 7:45
SAW
-
DUR
47h 55m
2 stops
R12 262Multiple Airlines
Sun, Mar 29 - Thu, Apr 9
Multiple Airlines Logo
17:50 - 21:00
DUR
-
SAW
26h 10m
2 stops
Multiple Airlines Logo
8:50 - 10:05
SAW
-
DUR
26h 15m
2 stops
R12 310Multiple Airlines
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to Istanbul

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

What is the cheapest flight to Istanbul?

These are the best round-trip prices found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 72 hours.

In the last 3 days, the cheapest flight deal to Istanbul was found on the route from Johannesburg, at R4 299 one-way and R8 360 return. The most popular connection is from Cape Town to Istanbul and KAYAK users have found return deals for as low as R9 106 in the last 3 days.

How much is a flight to Istanbul?

The average and cheapest price for all round-trip flights to Istanbul from each origin found by users searching on KAYAK in the last month.

On average, a flight to Istanbul costs R9 363. The cheapest price found on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks cost R5 500 and departed from Durban. The most popular routes on KAYAK are Durban to Istanbul which costs R11 952 on average, and Johannesburg to Istanbul, which costs R11 175 on average.

See prices from:

What is a good deal for flights to Istanbul?

If you’re looking for cheap airfare to Istanbul, 25% of our users found tickets to Istanbul for the following prices or less: From Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport R6 540 one-way - R10 379 return, from Cape Town R6 582 one-way - R11 009 return.

How far in advance should I book a flight to Istanbul?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to Istanbul, 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, you should book around 1 week before departure. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 81 days before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in Istanbul?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in Istanbul is Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport, with an average flight price of R3 446.

Good to know – Book Cheap Istanbul Plane Tickets

Cheapest flightR4 299
Flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport

When to book flights to Istanbul

Are your dates flexible? Find out the best times to travel to Istanbul based on our flight data from the last year. Discover the cheapest month and even day to fly.
Estimated return price
KAYAK looks at all historical flight data for each date to provide a predicted price for one-way trips or returns with a duration up to 40 days. The information is for flights to Istanbul based on your location. While we try to provide actual minimum prices for each date, some prices are predictions and actual prices may differ.

FAQs - booking Istanbul flights

  • What is the cheapest flight to Istanbul?

    In the last 3 days, the cheapest flight deal to Istanbul was found on the route from Johannesburg, at R4 299 one-way and R8 360 return. The most popular connection is from Cape Town to Istanbul and KAYAK users have found return deals for as low as R9 106 in the last 3 days.

  • Which Istanbul airport is closest to central Istanbul?

    Out of the 2 airports in Istanbul, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport is the nearest to the city center (32 km). You'll travel 34 km to reach the center of Istanbul if you land in Istanbul Airport

  • How much is a flight to Istanbul?

    On average, a flight to Istanbul costs R9 363. The cheapest price found on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks cost R5 500 and departed from Durban King Shaka Intl Airport.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to Istanbul?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to Istanbul is Tuesday where tickets can be as cheap as R12 013. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Saturday, where prices are R13 414 on average.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights to Istanbul?

    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 to Istanbul.

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

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

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights to Istanbul?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Istanbul 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 to Istanbul?

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

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to Istanbul?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to Istanbul is generally at night, when flights cost R11 928 on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Istanbul is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is R12 282.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Istanbul

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

Reviews of the top 5 airlines flying to Istanbul

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to Istanbul. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from South Africa to Istanbul. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with to Istanbul? 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.
8,1
EmiratesOverall score based on 3490 reviews
7,9Food
8,0Comfort
8,1Boarding
8,3Crew
8,2Entertainment
Airline reviews

Emirates did great! I liked the service, the food, cleanness, and the flight was on time. Much better airline than Qatar Airways I flew with last year.

10,0 ExcellentElena, Dec 2025
BOS - DXB
Read more Emirates reviews

Emirates did great! I liked the service, the food, cleanness, and the flight was on time. Much better airline than Qatar Airways I flew with last year.

Mostly good and consistent of Emirates service. Christmas menu was great initiative and tasted good. Taking the bus from terminal to the plane spoilt the experience a little.

There is an issue with A380 when it arrives in Munich, because a business class passengers like me have to wait for the first class passengers to disembark, which takes some time while you are also offloading economy passengers this causes an issue at customs where your business class passengers end up behind a large bulk of economy passengers This is a frustration and the early dislocation should be and is supposed to be a benefit of business class

Emirates A380s are always wonderful to fly on. Their crews, food and service are always excellent. They are typically on time and the only thing I would change (maybe newer or upgraded aircraft have this) is bluetooth so I can pair my noise cancelling headphones without a cable.

Love that you can walk directly to your gate from the Emirates Business class lounge, very convenient

This was my first time flying with Emirates. Overall, the experience was very good. I thought the seats in economy would have been a bit more comfortable, but, they seem to be on par with other airlines. The food was excellent and very satisfying. If you can afford it, I would definitely suggest upgrading to at lest premium economy seats for long haul flights.

Emirates need to improve the boarding process. There is no point calling for all First and Business Class passengers plus Platinum, Gold and Silver Skywards members at one time. Further to this, try channeling all these people into one entry point with no defined lines. It was chaos. The is a common issue on the Dubai to Riyadh flight. Poor effort Emirates.

Wifi was not operational for the whole trip. Other than this, flight was well received .

First time and very memorable, the finest flying experience ive ever had

Ove the A380 planes. Comfortable seats. Served great Indian food and Masala Chai!

The boarding process was awful-the computers were down and there was no way to check in. Took extremely long, very chaotic and no guarantee our bags were even getting on the plane. I was also delayed and took away from any time i had to catch a connecting flight.

When we checked in at the Siem Reap Airport in Cambodia, we were only given three boarding passes and told that we would have to check in with American when we arrived in Boston. This was a source of stress for us. After we landed in Boston, we had a long passage from Terminal E to Terminal B (American Airline ticketing counter). Because the electronic ticketing kiosks for check-in would not recognize our Confirmation Code, we had to wait for an hour in a long line where only two AA reps were taking care of Special Services passengers. In many years of both business and recreational travel, I have never had this experience. I would expect more from AA being in partnership with other airlines to do a better job with this.

Flight departed punctually on time. Unfortunately it seems because the destination airport is a secondary airport the airline sees it fit to operate a plane with lower comfort and offerings. There was no inflight entertainment, wifi or let alone a screen to at least track flight status for remaining flight time.

Very efficient and professional staff. Food was good and so was entertainment selection.

All good. Over four hours flight if provided snacks like Qatar Airways would be better

Good. It would be great if comfort seats were available

The flight was delayed and one member of the crew was a bit rude. But apart from that all good.

It never happened. Me flight from Doha to São Paulo was lated and the time of waiting for the luggage arrives when we arrived in São Paulo was about 1 hour and half. So it took a lot of time just waiting the luggage of flight that was already late, consequently we lost the flight to Recife with Latam Airlines and had to go to the Qatar office to arrange another flight to us to Recife, that one with Azul Airlines. It was more 4 hours waiting to this other flight to knows that this other flight was delayed too, total of 5 hours more at the airport to waiting to go home :/

The flight overall was good. The attendants did a good job except that 1 female had too much fragrance on. The other things that made the flight unpleasant were out of the airlines control.

Nothing to complain. The staff and flight was good especially the seats which was better compared than the cloth ones on Qatar airways

Good flight. There were a few issues with the flat bed. It was some technical issues. Otherwise everything was good

It was great! Kept the time. Provided what was promised

From the start of my vacation at Logan Airport, Boston it was chaotic. I'm praying my flight home is better .I'm grateful that we landed safe

I booked and paid for a Business Class seat for myself and my wife. 4 hours before the flight i get a call saying the plane they sent doesn't have the correct layout to accommodate all the business class seats they sold me 3 months earlier at a premium of $1500 a ticket. So they have to bump me from Business to Economy and will give me a $400 credit (total of $800 for both seats) that I could turn in at Abu Dahbi for $400 in US cash. They then promised a row that we could have to ourselves and the arm rests would go up so we could spread out for each of us. My wife was taken care of but I was put in the exit row with the flight attendents set as part of the three...and the arm rest did not go up. When we got to Abu Dahbi, they would not exchange our credit for cash as promised. Very disappointed they took my money 3 months ago and refused to reimburse for the change in seats or follow the promises made.

There was not any issues with the Etihad Airways. Staff was excellent and I love the variety of movies and games that they provided.

Seat space was tight and uncomfortable. There was hardly any cushioning giving me a terrible tail bone ache. Getting and out was extremely cramped. We paid for seat choices and felt totally ripped off. Food was mediocre. By the time the servers served 2 or 3 rows they ran out of this or that option as we saw on the inbound trip also. This is infuriating. Entertainment choices were extremely limited for such a long haul. The screen froze on occasion and did not switch off when the on off button was pressed. When it did it came back on its own in 5 seconds. The airlines has gone downhill since last year.

excellent, staff and boarding were all seamless and no issues, thank you!

More leg space than other flights, but felt like *maybe* narrower seats?

My baggage was not boarded and is still missing. I was only carring one piece of luggage and that is misplaced now I am stuck at mumbai without luggage. I had an onward journey from here

We booked a business class ticket via Underpricer. Somehow they screwed up our ticket from Abu Dhabi to Ahmedabad. We will be hesitant to book again with them.

Turkish Airlines was great. My new layover was over 18 hours due to inclement weather back home in Washington DC and the airlines provided me with a hotel room and dinner voucher during my layover

Bad sitting every flight not good experience with food either

My, Syed Zawar Hussein Shirazi frequently flyer membership number was not included on my boarding pass from O’Hare to Istanbul despite my reminder to the attendant at check in. Further she forgot to give me my boarding pass form Istanbul to Lahore and she needs to improve her customer service, please 🙏

Everything about that day was great I was happy with how things went as a first time traveling with the airline thank you for all that you’ve doing by taking us there to our various destinations thanks.

The seats were extremely small. Boarding was not communicated correctly. It wasn’t a pleasant trip.

I am always amazed with the great service they offer on their regional and international flights

Nothing luxury about Turkish airline compared to many other airlines

Entertainment was good. Flight was delayed, nearly missed my connecting flight. The gate was changed on several occasions. My luggage did not arrive on time and had to leave without it.

Service was slow and checked bag was off last evening when flying business

Everything was good except that they didn’t give us seat for our connecting flight in Istanbul from Cairo. This created a panic situation. Hopefully they give all customers connecting flights seats right from the start.

A bit chaotic boarding flight but over all good experience.

We had a good flight experience with this airline despite reading many negative comments

The crew was unfriendly and very rude to name a few (Helina). I felt unsafe due to most of the cabinets were open while on flight. All in all the flight was ok, but the crew needed more training on customer service most of all for international flights.

Delay not posted, only departure time listed- not boarding time. We left an hour late and arrived 45 min late. Restrooms had backed up sinks and toilets not flushed ) passenger error). Lots of screen for entertainment didn’t work. But we arrived with our luggage

The plane was old and the luggage racks above us were visibly shaking during turbulence. Water was dripping on our heads during landing. Our flight was over 2 hours late departing but we were not updated or told what to expect as the screen at the gate continued to read “on time”

I had a memorable experience. I dont have any comments at this time regarding waht could be better.

It is nice and great but the houstees crew are all the way back arguing with customers and behavior issues same of the crew i saw that also all the trips were very much butter!

Need to do a lot of improvement on service and cleaness

They only gave us 30 minutes to make an international connecting flight. We didn’t make the connection but they did do a good job rebooking us despite the chaos. Our bags didn’t make it back and their process for customer support is pretty bad when it comes to luggage.

Good. Crew do seem to be less friendly- management are clearly limiting them or not empowering them as they used to.

Everything you need to know for your flight to Istanbul

Cabin class types available on flights to Istanbul

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