R7 644 Find Cheap Flights from the United States to South Africa

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Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to South Africa

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

What is the cheapest flight to South Africa?

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

The cheapest ticket to South Africa from the United States found in the last 72 hours was to Cape Town, at R25 650 return. The most popular route is Atlanta (ATL) to Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport (JNB) and the cheapest return airline ticket found on this route in the last 72 hours was R29 920.

What is the cheapest month to fly from the United States to South Africa?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights from the United States to South Africa, 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 the United States to South Africa is October, when tickets cost R22 865 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and August, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is R29 524 and R28 990 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from the United States to South Africa?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to South Africa, 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 the United States to South Africa, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 15% compared to booking last-minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 15 weeks before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in South Africa?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in South Africa is Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport (JNB), with an average flight price of R19 828.

Good to know

Low seasonOctober
Cheapest flightR7 644
Best time to beat the crowds (6% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (21% 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.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to South Africa?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to South Africa is Wednesday when return tickets can be as cheap as R23 742. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Thursday, when return prices are R26 517 on average.

  • What is the cheapest time of day to fly to South Africa?

    The cheapest time of day to fly to South Africa is generally at night, when retur flights cost R21 752 on average. Morning departures are around 26% more expensive than evening flights, on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to South Africa is generally in the afternoon, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is R32 623.

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.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines flying 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 3690 reviews
7,4Entertainment
7,3Food
7,9Crew
7,4Comfort
7,5Boarding
Airline reviews

I am a big person and have back pain and swelling in my legs, so this was a challenging flight due to confined space. I didn't find the crew very friendly either. I will think twice before flying long distances with Qatar again, due to the lack of legroom.

6,0 GoodBelinda, Dec 2025
DOH - JNB
Read more Qatar Airways reviews

I am a big person and have back pain and swelling in my legs, so this was a challenging flight due to confined space. I didn't find the crew very friendly either. I will think twice before flying long distances with Qatar again, due to the lack of legroom.

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

Lobster starter in business class was not good, tough, served cold, and without butter. Movie selection was missing latest releases, did not offer older classic, high quality movies

Food was absolutely pathetic. I wasted so much food which I thought was inedible. I also loathe the inflight entertainment system which has very little content

My entire row did not have power for the full duration of a 14.5 hour flight. Could not charge any devices such as laptop or phones for the entirety of the long flight. The flight attendants tried to remedy the issue by resetting the power, but were not successful. The only other solution provided was to move me to another seat on the plane which was in the middle row. I had paid for a “preferred” seat that was a window seat. This was a downgrade being offered due to the power issue.

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

I was travelling 3.5 years after. Agree Economy is no business class but the food was mediocre. Ordered a Hindu meal, the salads were bitter . The food was really below quality and had no tast from what I had in the past. Indian Railways probably have a better quality food when compared. However the kids meal was really nice and really appreciate how they were taken care of. The restrooms were dirty .

My flight was with American Airlines 120. The flight was delayed 3 hours and I missed my connection. When I arrived in Doha, the AA staff told me to call an 800 number to rebook a different flight, which was unacceptable. Eventually a Qatar Air staff member helped rebook me on a flight to Manila, that was 12 hours later. They offered me a hotel and meal voucher which I declined, because I didn’t want to leave the airport. Long story short, I spent 12 hours in the Doha airport waiting for my next flight.

Overall the experience was neat with crew being nice and caring especially to parent with kids. The free snacks option was okay. The kiosk at Philly airport didn’t work.

Reason for travelling Tampa to Orlando is to fly Qatar Airline. we end up with American Airline. This was the miserable experience I ever had in my entire travel history. Flight attendants were rude. They hit my knee with the food cart and I was holding ice pack for 2 hours. I still have the pain after a week. WE boarded the flight twice because of the temperature inside the plan.

They did the one thing that really matters - got to Chicago early.

I liked the snacks and the flight attendants were friendly.

Gate agent at Frankfurt was terrible. She denied PRE boarding even as it was printed on the boarding pass. Refused to look at the boarding pass and literally shouting for no reason. Frankfurt airport has horrible and rude staff who avoids trying to answer any question at all. Overall, horrible experience.

The Crew and the food was the worst I ever had in Business Class. First they told us there were no space for carry on. It was plenty of space over our 2 row seats, we had to ask to let us travel with it which was accepted. They were aware that we had to run for the connection due to the previous flight delay. Have us one hour waiting for more customers and not even offer a glass of water. Then started the service and they started to serve other passengers drinks in business and did not offer any drinks until they serve our pre ordered meal and I ask for something to drink. I had to wait until they finished to serve all passengers until Inget something. The crew was the worts I ever had for Business Class in my life.

Very turbulent trip made it pretty bearable, plus the lack of refreshments served and the lack of any air conditioning before takeoff which took an hour or more.

Flight was late - I was downgraded from first class to coach

Not good - outbound flight was delayed and missed my connection even though I got to the gate after running through the airport - the agent would not let me on because the door was closed (flight had not left). There was no notification from United - overall experience was very disappointing. Additionally, I was downgraded from first class to coach on the alternative flight

The flight was on time. I generally don’t drink or eat on short flights and the seats were good and the flight attendants were friendly. That’s all I expect

It was nice to have gotten up upgraded to first class with a meal on a three hour flight

Not great experience - we were super late boarding due to issues with aircraft. Then when we finally all got onboard and seated and they started taxiing out to the runway they just stopped then turned around and went back to the airport. Apparently the crew “ran out of time” to legally fly us. They mentioned that they were about 2 minutes away from taking off. I understand the rules and safety but kinda wonder why they would have bothered boarding us in the first place? Had to go all the way back and de plane and then wait in a HUGE line to get a hotel (this is somewhere around 2:30am) finally got to hotel by Uber (no shuttle after 20min so gave up) and they ended up putting us all back on the same aircraft at 10am next morning so got about 2.5 hours sleep. They did give us. $250 credit, but it was a São Paulo Brazil flight out of Dulles. The flight and everything was fine.

it was like a banya -so hot... They did provide a great experience with special food. one toilet broke midflight In general it was a peaceful and relaxing flight - for business class it was good.

Chicago to Istanbul was a much better experience than I expected since I’m more accustomed to Qatar Airways business class. The business lounge in the Istanbul airport was amazing - loved the lockers and phone charging stations, and the bathroom was a spa experience in itself. The onward leg from Istanbul to Karachi was utterly disappointing. Terrible plane, and I felt like I was in economy - the seats don’t come near to lying flat and the food was mediocre. What a sad downgrade - it isn’t as though the ticket on that leg was cheaper. So, on that front, there’s no contest with Qatar airways.

Second leg of Turkish Airline with Indigo is disaster for following reason. 1) You have to carry your cabin bags through ladder to boeing 777 because it was parked somewhere in parking lot and was not given a gate to board passengers and this seems to be people traveling to and fro from those flights and is not issue with flight itself. 2) I choose non vegetarian food on Turkish portal way ahead of checkin to entire trip, However the Indigo flight gave me random veg food saying they code veg food code from Turkish. 3) Indigo did not served any alcoholic beverages stating some weird reason which is non nonsensical. 4)Indigo have TV screens in front of you but it displays nothing except "Welcome Onboard" with annoying white black ground in dark flight. This is the most stupidest and annoying part because you are held hostage for 7 hours and only thing you could do is stare back at white screen which does not have entertainment package or even flight tracker. Such a shame.

nice and clean plane but the seats and the comfort was not what i expected. i expected more based on all the ads and reviews that i've read. I guess you get what you pay for in economy.

Overall it was good. Food was bad. I ordered gluten free vegetarian meal. But I got gluten free chicken for my long flight from Seattle to Istanbul. I don’t eat any kind of meat. Second meal I got eggplant with meat which I couldn’t eat. I don’t understand why we can’t get gluten free vegetarian meal for a 12 hour flight. I eat the bread and that was it.

Worse worse worse, i would not recommend this airline to anyone. Istanbul airport maybe State of the Art facility but staff is rude, only works if they get tips, and they push you to give tips even though my family had spent $50 in tips. Airline staff doesn't speak english so you really can't understand them. It was a nightmare travelling with Turkish. Never again.

As a big guy the seats are way too small for me. Would prefer more comfortable seats on these long haul flights.

My flight was canceled 1 minute before boarding. The customer service was owful, no one could tell us what was going happened. I spent 30hrs instead of 15 from Washington DC to Brussels. No apologie or help

Boeing 777 is a bad choice for a such a long flight.

The staff at IST airport could have been more helpful. Too much wasted time and the plane from IST to KHI was just horrible. The plane was not clean and smelled bad!

Check in took over an hour because printer was not working. Attendant did not know how to give free layover Addis Ababa hotel vouchers or update frequent flyer number. After repeated attempts, got voucher emailed. However hotel wanted printed voucher hence more delay. Bus time from hotel back to airport was printed 4:50 hours, but hotel reception called at 3 pm saying bus will leave at 4 pm. Then hotel reception called again saying 4:15 pm. We rushed at 4:15 pm and bus was not ready until 4:40 pm. Many audio outlets were not working in planes.

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!

I have my baggage left either in Jeddah or Addis and undelivered to Abuja

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.

The Boeing 737 MAX on this route, flown in the middle of the night, is an UTTER FAILURE for business travellers. The whole point of business travel is to arrive alert and recover from travel quickly, and this little aeroplane with its quarter recline uncomfortable business seats does nothing for that. It’s a small step up from economy in that you have decent legroom, but that’s it. Absolute margin at the cost of the traveller.

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

The food was terrible and the seating was uncomfortable, but the airline did a great thing letting us board in Abbis Ababa on our connecting flight after our original flight was very delayed.

Checking in wasn't organized, too many so-called diplomats were jumping line while everyone was waiting in line. They should have their own line not to impede on other passengers that was also waiting to be served. We all paid money and there should be no discrimination because everyone's money should have the same value diplomat or not! If they want to give diplomats some special treatment then let them create their own check in desk and not treat other passengers some that are (elderly, some with children, pregnant women) making them stand longer in line than necessary just because people are jumping line 😡

Food hardly ever changes Videos not often updated for often travel.

I travelled in business class and was disappointed by lack of service, curt and borderline rude time of the crew and to top it off, all of my luggage was delayed. It was like pulling teeth to even report the missing luggage and recover it the next day from the airport.

Plane was extremely delayed, but not all of it was BA fault (some was). Worst part was lack of room - this had as much space as an Allegiant flight. I thought transatlantic usually gave you an extra inch or two, but not this one. Entertainment system sporadically worked and didn’t have great options. Overhead bins are old and tiny, not as good as aunties new planes.

Boarding was poor. All groups called immediately one after the other resulting in a long queue in the jetty/jet bridge. Seats were very hard and and did not recline on a 4.5 hour flight. No food was available. Plane was cold. There was no entertainment.

The cramped seats are cruel and unusual punishment and may violate the Geneva code.

Check in was was and the agent was very friendly and helpful The lounge was nice...boarding was straight from the lounge Everything worked at our seats, and video entertainment was good ..food was mediocre

The flight was excellent in World Travellor plus. Well worth the extra money. Boarding at Phoenix was the usual poorly organized event. Very stressful.

Although business class, the seating was really cramped. The food was so so.

Smooth trip no turbulence which is always a bonus for me lol! In cattle class so an element of being a bit squished (but not as bad as other shorter haul airlines) smaller plane than the one we flew out on and entertainment system wasn’t as modern but still definitely passed the time. Lovely crew x

I was attacked in the Miami airport and the staff did nothing. On my flight from London to Miami one of the flight attendants screamed at me and demanded I keep my seat in the upright position at all times during the fight so the man behind me was comfortable for the flight. I will never in my life use British airways again

Airlines have to stop assuming passengers bring entertainment. Provide it like you used to in business class and above!! N

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.