R9 511 Find Cheap Flights from the United States 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 the United States to South Africa departing on 9/3. 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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Low season

February

High season

December

Cheapest flight

R9 511
Best time to beat the crowds (13% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (24% more expensive on average)
Flight from New York John F Kennedy Airport to Cape Town

FAQs for booking flights from the United States to South Africa

  • Are there nonstop flights to South Africa?

    Although there are flights from the United States available to over a dozen different small and large cities throughout South Africa, the only nonstop flights from the US to South Africa arrive in Johannesburg. Some of the nonstop flights to Johannesburg are available from Atlanta and Washington, DC.

  • Do I need a visa to enter South Africa?

    To visit South Africa for a duration of up to 90 days, United States nationals are not required to acquire a visa in advance. Instead, a visitor’s visa can be obtained at the port of entry on arrival. Official visa rules can be found on South Africa’s government immigration website and are subject to change without notice.

  • Where should I fly to if I want to visit Kruger National Park?

    If you’re one of the many tourists heading to South Africa to visit the Kruger National Park, it can be handy to fly into Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP). Although there are no direct routes, this airport gives direct access to the southern section of Kruger National Park. One of the most common layovers is in Johannesburg and you can find that more than one airline operates the route. Some of the companies are South Africa and jetBlue.

  • I want to visit Table Mountain in South Africa, which city should I fly to?

    Table Mountain is another extremely popular tourist destination in South Africa, and it lies just outside of the city of Cape Town. To get there, you can fly into Cape Town then take one of the many available buses or taxis to the base of Table Mountain, where you can either hike or take a cable car the rest of the way.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from the United States 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 the United States to South Africa.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from the United States to South Africa 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 the United States 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 from the United States to South Africa 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 the United States 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 from the United States to South Africa 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 a cheap flight out of the United States

  • Getting to South Africa will almost certainly involve a layover, which commonly also includes a change in airline. One of the most common (and most affordable) routes to South Africa from the United States is from New York City (JFK Airport) to Johannesburg. This route is nonstop and is operated by South Africa Airways.
  • When booking your flight to South Africa, you’ll have no shortage of airports to choose from. There are more than 15 international airports in South Africa that you can fly to from the United States, with the airports in Johannesburg and Cape Town seeing the most international air traffic.
  • Heading to the Valley of 1,000 hills? This popular attraction is located in the Durban area. To get there, you’ll have to fly into Durban King Shaka International Airport (DUR). Located in the city of La Mercy, the airport is reachable via a layover in Johannesburg.
  • If you’re one of the many tourists heading to South Africa to hike up to Lion’s Head, you’ll have to fly into Cape Town for convenient access. Common layovers between the US and Cape Town include Madrid and Johannesburg.
  • To reach Ballito (nicknamed the Dolphin Coast), your best option is to fly into Durban King Shaka International Airport. Direct flights to this airport aren’t available from the US, with most involving a layover in Johannesburg.
See more tips

Top 5 airlines serving from the United States to South Africa

Need help choosing which airline to fly with from the United States 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.
7,4
Qatar AirwaysOverall score based on 3659 reviews
7,5Comfort
7,3Food
8,0Crew
7,4Entertainment
7,6Boarding
Airline reviews

Well organized boarding, efficient and on time. Nice crew on the plane. Thank you!

10,0 ExcellentElena, Dec 2024DFW - DOH
Read more Qatar Airways reviews

Well organized boarding, efficient and on time. Nice crew on the plane. Thank you!

The Qatar Airways staff pre-boarding and also on the flight from Dallas to Doha were incredibly mediocre and arrogant. Consider retraining these individuals Other flights were ok.

My experience with Qatar airway was very unsatisfactory. They lost my child’s stroller and I was told they found it and will send it to the hotel which was a lie. I had to go back to the airport baggage claim and pick up myself after trying to contact them many times!. There was a lack professional and communication. I am very disappointed in Qatar airway and will not be recommending them to friends and family nor will I be flying with them in the future.

Worst air experience in whole life . Boarding and checking was hassle as they did 3 times. Crew team was clueless about passengers need. Despite of passengers raising hand , they were resetting the program

The food is not good and also if you ask crew to bring something they say ok I will bring but you will never get it. Please they should listen good to passengers

No difference between US airline and Qatar. Both cramp as many people. The airline seems to change planes without notice choice is seating when making reservations online doesn’t match the plane a passenger is on. Especially paying extra. Nothing special No different than US carriers.

Did not like anything. Seats were crammed, leg space was minimal and food was terrible. This was the first time traveling overseas in American Airlines and was the worst experience ever. Have learned a lesson to never travel in American Airlines.

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.

The agents was very rude and they charged me $50 for a carry-on bag saying that it was too big and then I saw someone going on a plane with the same size bag as me

Liked nothing. As per previous segment it was delay delay delay.

Terrible. First of all we were delayed 4 3/4 hours departing Honolulu. As we had to leave our condo and the rental car had to be returned we had to go to the airport. Even though we had a business class boarding pass to Washington, since we did not have business class to Montreal we could not access the lounge without paying a $59 fee each. This does not make sense to us. Since we could not meet our original connection United booked us to Montreal via New York LaGuardia on Air Canada. In Washington a further delay got us into LaGuardia too late to make our connection to Montreal so we were booked on another Air Canada flight 3 hours later. We were originally scheduled to arrive in Montreal at 10:40 and arrived at 19:55. A totally exhausting day, United did not offer a meal voucher or any type of compensation. Air Canada did give us a digital meal voucher. The food in United business class is poor among all meals offered. The pods look nice but are not that confortable. Overall would not fly on United again.

Plenty of room for me and the cat in Premium Economy. Seat was comfortable. Boarding was a breeze. The lady at the special check-in desk was great, super helpful and professional.

For the most part united was a good experience, how ever when they came by with the snacks and water, they completely passed by my wife and I. As we were in separate rows. On a 5 hr flight we were not offered water

Fantastic crew. Flight was delayed at last minute but we were given updates every 20 minutes and the crew was so friendly and considerate. I miss the touch screens on the back of the seats, wish they would bring that back though.

Our seats were all the way in back of the plane,

Food choices were very limited. Taste of the dishes was average.

Maybe add a seat trade app for flyers that didn’t get seats together

It’s been awhile since I have traveled on United. I, along with my family who were on the flight noted how smoothly everything went . Boarding, flight crew and service was excellent.

Cleanliness of seats, trays, storage pockets need more attention, but everything else was good.

A great airline, no complaints at all. My experience with Cheap Tickets was very disappointing however. Two hours after purchasing the flight they called to tell me that the ticket price had gone up. I’ve never heard of such a thing. That is called false advertising; I will never use this ticketing service again and will warn all friends to never use it.

One of the worst check in process at the DIA as well as the boarding counter Changed seat at the last minute and assigned middle seat while I paid for window seat. Requested many times but to no avail . horrible customer service and very poor process Requesting refund for seat that was changed last minute

Good overall flight. Excellent crew. Food options could be improved.

Vegan food tasted good. Restroom could be kept cleaner. Seat tray table was a bit tilted so food tray kept sliding down a bit. Flight crew can be a little more friendly, caring and approachable. Their faces lacked smiles and tone was stern.

Flight was delayed then we had to redirect for medical emergency during which time we had no information on what is the plan. The connecting flight was also delayed.

Very good except the boarding process too forever and wasn’t organized by group. I had a heavy pack or I wouldn’t have minded. I was in business. There were no audible announcements in the waiting area about boarding and everyone packed into the boarding area. Then boarding stopped for a long time but the staff made no announcements to update waiting passengers about the holdup. The flight was good after we got on.

Professional & courteous cabin crew. Food was very good even in economy class

7 stars hospitality and an excellent service by the Turkish Airline entire team. Somehow, our membership numbers for mileage points were not indicated on our boarding passes issued at O’Hare Airport by the Turkish Airlines check in desk. During transit in Istanbul, I brought to attention of customer service Turkish Airlines. Please have our mileage points posted to our membership account from O’Hare Chicago to Lahore for both my wife Kaukab Shirazi Thank you

Terrible boarding experience, with an incomprehensible assignment of priorities. “Fast track” was the slowest. Poor system planning.

Flight was delayed an hour. Also, I bought an extra legroom seat online; but the actually plane was a different configuration so I didn't get what I paid for . This happened on the Addis to Lusaka leg of my trip.

Needs improvement because some of the tvs and charging ports weren’t working

My experience was great. The flight attendants were very helpful and nice, and the food was very good.

Very bad experience flight was over 5 hours delayed 😑 not a chance to be put on another flight we had to stay at the hotel we lost 2 days on our vacation. Never again I will fligh with Ethiopian airlines.

Terrible customer service I lost my bag luggage and I still haven’t received any information

The flight delayef for over 2 hours so my route was changed leading to arriving to my destination without my luggage

I liked nothing of Ethiopian airlines except the price of the fare.

Food was really not appealing. There was a blocked sink in the toilet. Toilet is cramped and the wall between the 2 toilets are not secured properly.

I felt all of the food tasted the same. And we had five meals over the 16 hrs in the air.

The use of a domestic carrier without entertainment was disappointing and a let down

I was charged fees for check in bags at the airport by British Airways. It was supposed to be no charge but Kayak messed up my booking apparently and I had to pay for check in bags. I paid $175.

They took my carry on and checked it in. Staff in general at Heathrow are not friendly or helpful

The crew were professional and friendly. It was the most uncomfortable international flight I've ever flown. Crammed in passengers. No overhead space to put my bag. No leg room and unable to recline seat due to seats too close together so it upset passenger behind me! Upgrade price to get 2 inches of more space unreasonable.

Boarding in Dallas was hell with extremely rude gate agents , especially a lady named Rajathi who was the epitome of rudeness with no compassion at all . She was horrible and I wonder why airlines have people like her on their roster who exude arrogance and haughtiness . Will probably not fly British Airwsys because of people like her .

Less than average, low level of shared required information needed during the transfer from airport to another, also the used team during boarding In Indianapolis station is Not Professional

Ok we did get an upgrade and the flight was delayed 45 minutes BUT without any bias. The crew were excellent, friendly, efficient and verging on exuberant, they all were so happy to do their jobs. Food excellent and the new safety video is fun to watch.

Food was average. Better headphones seats were average at best.

Nice flight. Legroom was good. Food was good. Staff was friendly and helpful. Plane was modern and clean. Seats and headrests were comfortable. Entertainment system was good and modern, with a bright LCD screen and many appealing choices.

I have something to say about the flight I took from London to Gothenburg, after my flight from Austin to London. I fly a lot and have done so for decades. I first flew to Scandinavia in 1973. My former wife is Norwegian. The main thing was the experience at the Gothenburg airport. Three flights from Britain arrived around the same time. So there were huge lines at immigration since Brits are no longer a part of the EU. After over an hour in line, I finally gave my passport to the immigrations man. You’d have thought I was an Afghan. I just barely got into Sweden. I had to answer all kinds of blunt questions. I had to show all kinds of onward tickets, addresses of places I’d be staying and it was pretty daunting. Perhaps it has to do with the situation with Russia. British Air might have done something to prepare people that things have changed a lot and they’d better be ready to run the gauntlet when trying to get into the country here. Thanks for listening and taking this into consideration. Sincerely, a senior citizen of the USA

No land services during boarding, specially while moving from terminal to another

Book cheap flights from the United States to South Africa

Recent return flight deals

7/3Fri
1 stopEthiopian Air
20h 00mEWR-CPT
16/3Sun
2 stopsEthiopian Air
25h 10mCPT-EWR
R14 192
7/3Fri
1 stopEthiopian Air
20h 00mEWR-CPT
16/3Sun
1 stopEthiopian Air
25h 10mCPT-EWR
R14 229
10/3Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
27h 35mJFK-JNB
18/3Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
34h 05mJNB-JFK
R15 191
10/3Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
27h 15mEWR-JNB
19/3Wed
1 stopTurkish Airlines
34h 30mJNB-EWR
R15 191
26/2Wed
1 stopBritish Airways
21h 05mJFK-CPT
18/3Tue
1 stopBritish Airways
21h 30mCPT-JFK
R18 078
16/3Sun
1 stopBritish Airways
27h 25mEWR-CPT
24/3Mon
1 stopBritish Airways
23h 00mCPT-EWR
R18 115
13/3Thu
1 stopQatar Airways
21h 20mJFK-JNB
24/3Mon
2 stopsQatar Airways
28h 30mJNB-JFK
R18 818
5/3Wed
2 stopsQatar Airways
29h 50mJFK-JNB
18/3Tue
1 stopQatar Airways
25h 40mJNB-JFK
R19 040
9/3Sun
1 stopUnited Airlines
37h 25mEWR-CPT
17/3Mon
directUnited Airlines
16h 00mCPT-EWR
R24 832
26/2Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
30h 23mLGA-CPT
11/3Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
18h 55mCPT-LGA
R25 516

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Recent one-way flight deals

9/3Sun
1 stopNorse Atlantic UK
32h 35mJFK-CPT
R9 511
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1 stopEgyptair
35h 25mJFK-JNB
R9 566
5/3Wed
1 stopEgyptair
36h 10mEWR-JNB
R9 566
13/3Thu
1 stopQatar Airways
37h 00mATL-JNB
R10 343
26/2Wed
1 stopQatar Airways
25h 20mATL-JNB
R10 380
1/4Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
37h 35mATL-JNB
R12 786
14/4Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
30h 50mATL-JNB
R12 823
18/2Tue
1 stopBritish Airways
26h 55mEWR-JNB
R18 096
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directUnited Airlines
14h 20mEWR-CPT
R20 872
2/3Sun
directUnited Airlines
14h 40mEWR-JNB
R20 872

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Last minute flights to South Africa

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

18/2Tue
multi-stopEthiopian Air
20h 45mIAD-CPT
25/3Tue
multi-stopEthiopian Air
25h 10mCPT-IAD
R16 005
18/2Tue
multi-stopEthiopian Air
20h 45mIAD-CPT
20/3Thu
multi-stopEthiopian Air
25h 10mCPT-IAD
R16 135
15/2Sat
multi-stopBritish Airways
32h 05mJFK-JNB
20/2Thu
multi-stopBritish Airways
27h 35mJNB-JFK
R19 429
15/2Sat
multi-stopBritish Airways
36h 20mEWR-JNB
17/2Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
29h 20mJNB-EWR
R20 853
17/2Mon
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
39h 00mIAD-CPT
24/2Mon
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
26h 00mCPT-IAD
R21 464
18/2Tue
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
39h 00mIAD-CPT
24/2Mon
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
26h 00mCPT-IAD
R22 334
16/2Sun
multi-stopQatar Airways
27h 15mJFK-JNB
18/2Tue
multi-stopQatar Airways
25h 40mJNB-JFK
R26 608
16/2Sun
multi-stopQatar Airways
37h 00mATL-JNB
18/2Tue
multi-stopQatar Airways
52h 05mJNB-ATL
R26 719
16/2Sun
directUnited Airlines
14h 20mEWR-CPT
10/3Mon
directUnited Airlines
16h 00mCPT-EWR
R33 935
14/2Fri
directUnited Airlines
14h 40mEWR-JNB
21/2Fri
directUnited Airlines
16h 15mJNB-EWR
R33 935

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Everything you need to know for your flight to South Africa

Cabin class types available on flights to South Africa

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

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