R9 766 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 14/1. 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 766
Best time to beat the crowds (14% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (25% 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 to South Africa from the United States 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 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 to South Africa with an airline and back to the United States 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 to South Africa from the United States 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.
7,8
KLMOverall score based on 1349 reviews
7,9Boarding
7,2Entertainment
7,3Food
7,7Comfort
8,4Crew
Airline reviews

Great boarding, great short flight but no entertainment whatsoever and no wifi. Prepare to disembark by a staircase.

10,0 ExcellentAnonymous, Dec 2024BRU - AMS
Read more KLM reviews

Great boarding, great short flight but no entertainment whatsoever and no wifi. Prepare to disembark by a staircase.

Great boarding, great short flight but no entertainment whatsoever. It was supposed to have wifi but that did not work.

Transfer at CDG to connecting KLM flight to Amsterdam was a NIGHTMARE. LONG WALKWAYS, NO MOVING WALKWAYS, POOR signage, Have to take a train & No staff visible to help navigate the maze. AVOID TRANSFER AT CDG AT ALL COST.

Good flight with KLM, friendly staff. Food was good, had much worse on other airlines. Selection of drinks also good enough for us. Entertainment was also good. The economy seats are ok and that’s it. For a 12 hour flight I think a little more comfort in the economy seats in pitch and softness would be highly appreciated by the customers and can makte the difference.

Good food. Excellent crew service. Clean aircraft. Narrow seats and isle.

I tried to upgrade to premium economy anis seat online during the checkin process. The payment didn’t work due to a technical glitch on KLM’s website. I wasn’t able to change my seat unless I called Amsterdam. Since I was in Canada and there’s a time difference this wasn’t practical. So when I arrived early to Ottawa airport my seat wasn’t available and I could only get a middle seat in premium economy which isn’t great. These middle seats are priced at the same rate as an aisle seat which makes no sense.

Seats were comfortable crew members support was very good but AVML ordered or selected by us needs a lot of improvement.

Transavia flight, was booked as KLM but i couldnt select seat or access boarding pass with KLM at all. Crammed seating and very no frills experience all around. First and last time.

Transavia flight. Couldn't select seat or anything prior to flight. No connection with klm systems. Seats are very crammed. Extremely no frills.

Overall a very pleasant flight. No significant issues on either flight. Amsterdam airport is very convenient for connecting

We arrived early and finally made it to our gate almost an hour after.

The reason I don’t fly United. No in seat entertainment for a long flight and inconsistent WiFi and entertainment available from my device.

We were delayed 3x and because I didn’t purchase my tickets directly from United Airlines I was told I Have to take care of it myself so I called Underpricer and they helped me but before I changed my flights I took the risk of sticking by what my tickets were and was lucky to have gotten on the original all flight with only 15 mins before take off. not sure if I will do this again

horrible website for checking in- no option just to write the passport number; ludicrous

The planes are so dirty! Food crumbs and finger print smudges, Dust over the vents and carpet stains. It’s disgusting.

Everything good until we waited for jet bridge at SFO. Then pilot gets on speaker & said it won’t reach plane- too short, need to go to different gate. Then 5 min later, adjusted plane/jetbridge & all ok?!?

Nothing, whole flight was a nightmare, was forced to check my carryon bag at the gate, staff was rude and unprofessional

David went above and beyond to make our flight the best that it could be

Was a pain having to leave the plane and reboard but glad the plane was fixed

How badly can you screw up baggage claim? We were told to go to baggage claim too for our bags from this flight. Another flights bags were there. They finished up. More bags from a different flight arrived. Our bags did not Finally the baggage claim belt stopped working and and are flight was still listed on the arrivals for that baggage claim 2. And then nothing It turns out that they had been delivered not only the United baggage claim but far away on a Delta baggage claim No I never told us. It was only the people looking around who had been on the flight But I’m sure there was plenty of time for the employees to raffle through the bags and steal whatever they wanted

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.

Terrible boarding process, no proper line maintained even for business class, crews are not very attentive, business class food quality / variety / quantity have gone down, everything has become cheap.

Check in was not available online. It was super long line to check in

I did not have a good experience from the first point of contact to the check in person to boarding and the comfort of the seats. I would not travel on Turkish again. I will let my family and friends know about my experience which was not a pleasant one.

Food quality and the overall service of the staff and significantly decreased. The flight was delayed at the Istanbul airport and the passengers were kept onboard for more than 3 hours. The staff didn’t kept the passengers informed and everyone was upset.

Cross Atlantic flight terrible aircraft TK10 on the way back : Old configuration tacky . The boarding in Istanbul at the gate fly TK686 was a mess unorganized , very rude ground staff . Overall never again

The food served was frozen salad and hummus. The hot meal was fine. Crew was doing bare minimum

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

Plane was late with no information or announcement … had to walk up n downstairs.., had not communicated this … and ppl had suitcase to carry .

Like: It arrived, Dislike: Boarding was a separate corridor with no counter announcements at the passenger waiting area. Very dirty airplane and toilets, food options were terrible - everything even the vegetarian option was a curry spice. Many other passengers using the toilets would not lock the door and kept door partially open during use - flight attendants would not enforce or direct them to lock it and light turns on, no entertainment options at all, other passengers would be singing and not peaceful. Atrocious flight experience.

There where no ear phones provided and the food needs to improve.

I have been flew with ET since 2013 and I wish the service can be reach standard airlines as Star Alliance member please ET you need to improve many thing on the services learn from SQ and other member

I had a full row so can't imagine how this could be better

Boarding was delayed and people were just sitting there like lost.

The boarding area was too small with only one agent checking passengers into their standing bus

The experience was amazing! Many thanks to the pilot who informed us that we were passing mt Kilimanjaro and we had the chance to see it !

I like the leg room. I did not like the plane from Chicago to Addis. It was dirty and smelly and toilet area filthy. My screen was not working and kept saying loading. The plane from Addis to Harare was clean , more modern and food looked much fresher and tasted better. Boarding at Addis was a nightmare, long queues and lots of confusion,International space has no seating are and one is standing all the time.

Even the carry-ons were not allowed and upon getting down, we had the wait for the longest time for the baggage to put on the jet aisle. We had a short connection which British Airways kept changing and made out entire experience poor. I would never fly BA again.

5 days later I have not yet received my luggage so terrible and unacceptable

Easy and quick check in, clean and nice seats. Overall excellent experience.

The seats in airbus from LA to London are uncomfortable. They are too narrow. I am a slim person but felt cramped. The way the seats are laid out really hinders privacy. You are forced to look at the person next to you which is awkward, Also the entertainment on the same leg was limited. The crew was excellent and attentive and the food was decent. The seats on London to Delhi leg were way better. The crew again was very attentive and polite.

Great job notifying of 30 minute delay in departure. Fabulous job making up for the time and arriving as scheduled. Air travel is just no fun anymore with the extreme overcrowding, and someone needs to come up with an innovative plan for loading and unloading passengers (load all window seats first, middle seats second, aisle seats last?). Great job getting the luggage on the carousel in record time!

Although it was an overnight flight, the crew could’ve have made more refreshment passes.

All and it was good . But no one woke me when meals came around . Please have a don’t not disturb sign if you opted for that . Left very hungry missing all meals .

It was good but I wished if they could have sign do not disturb if we did not wanted any meals . I was tired and slept through the entire flight and woke up just before landing .being hungry Too late to ask for something to eat before exiting the flight . Left feeling hunger 🙁

Late in leaving the US. Late in arriving in UK. 2 plua hous on ground in UK before leaving. Late in arriving in Spain. Didn't get our bags until the next night.

British Airways canceled my flight and I had to fly on Lufthansa the next day. What a garbage airline 🗑️

Book cheap flights from the United States to South Africa

Recent return flight deals

26/1Sun
1 stopTurkish Airlines
31h 50mJFK-JNB
10/2Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
23h 10mJNB-JFK
R14 513
3/2Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
31h 40mJFK-JNB
17/2Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
23h 10mJNB-JFK
R14 604
22/1Wed
1 stopEthiopian Air
21h 30mIAD-CPT
27/1Mon
2 stopsEthiopian Air
24h 25mCPT-IAD
R17 720
24/1Fri
1 stopEthiopian Air
21h 30mIAD-CPT
28/1Tue
2 stopsEthiopian Air
25h 10mCPT-IAD
R17 738
26/1Sun
1 stopBritish Airways
29h 45mEWR-JNB
9/2Sun
1 stopBritish Airways
31h 10mJNB-EWR
R19 586
21/1Tue
1 stopBritish Airways
21h 05mJFK-CPT
28/1Tue
1 stopBritish Airways
26h 20mCPT-JFK
R19 731
17/1Fri
directUnited Airlines
14h 20mEWR-CPT
30/1Thu
directUnited Airlines
16h 00mCPT-EWR
R23 772
7/2Fri
directUnited Airlines
14h 20mEWR-CPT
15/2Sat
directUnited Airlines
16h 00mCPT-EWR
R23 790
21/1Tue
2 stopsKLM
22h 30mLGA-CPT
28/1Tue
2 stopsKLM
25h 09mCPT-LGA
R24 877
30/3Sun
2 stopsKLM
22h 10mLGA-CPT
7/4Mon
2 stopsKLM
24h 31mCPT-LGA
R26 018

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Recent one-way flight deals

14/1Tue
1 stopNorse Atlantic UK
32h 35mJFK-CPT
R9 766
31/1Fri
2 stops
51h 20mATL-JNB
R10 110
18/2Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
29h 50mATL-JNB
R12 158
26/2Wed
1 stopTurkish Airlines
29h 45mATL-JNB
R12 176
31/1Fri
1 stopEthiopian Air
20h 10mEWR-JNB
R13 263
6/2Thu
1 stopEthiopian Air
20h 45mIAD-CPT
R13 462
22/1Wed
directUnited Airlines
14h 20mEWR-CPT
R20 257
15/1Wed
directUnited Airlines
14h 40mEWR-JNB
R20 257
24/4Thu
1 stopBritish Airways
27h 35mEWR-JNB
R82 240
5/6Thu
2 stopsBritish Airways
35h 00mLGA-CPT
R91 517

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Last minute flights to South Africa

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

23/12Mon
multi-stop
29h 35mJFK-JNB
25/12Wed
multi-stop
25h 25mJNB-JFK
R32 305
23/12Mon
multi-stop
34h 35mJFK-JNB
25/12Wed
multi-stop
25h 25mJNB-JFK
R33 954
23/12Mon
directUnited Airlines
14h 20mIAD-CPT
31/12Tue
directUnited Airlines
16h 05mCPT-IAD
R34 661
22/12Sun
multi-stopQatar Airways
45h 56mJFK-JNB
27/1Mon
multi-stopQatar Airways
26h 00mJNB-JFK
R35 005
24/12Tue
multi-stopUnited Airlines
59h 42mEWR-CPT
16/1Thu
directUnited Airlines
16h 00mCPT-EWR
R35 222
24/12Tue
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
29h 50mATL-JNB
16/1Thu
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
31h 50mJNB-ATL
R40 151
23/12Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
30h 41mJFK-CPT
30/12Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
23h 55mCPT-JFK
R40 640
23/12Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
30h 41mJFK-CPT
13/1Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
24h 55mCPT-JFK
R40 676
23/12Mon
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
29h 45mATL-JNB
16/1Thu
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
31h 50mJNB-ATL
R40 785
23/12Mon
multi-stopKLM
23h 10mATL-JNB
5/1Sun
multi-stopKLM
27h 35mJNB-ATL
R66 803

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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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