$622 Find Cheap Flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg departing on 3/2. 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 Johannesburg

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Francisco to Johannesburg.
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Francisco to Johannesburg.
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Everything you should know

Cheapest round-trip
$764
Overall average: $1,285
Virgin Atlantic
Thu 1/29Wed 2/11
SFO - JNB • 1 stop
Cheapest one-way
$622
Typical prices: $544-$693
Qatar Airways
Mon 3/2
SFO - JNB • 1 stop
Top airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Cheapest • from $764 (round-trip)
Delta
Best reviews • 7.9 score
Airline reviews
Airline reviews
+1
+1
Airline reviews
Airline reviews
+1
When to book
3 weeks
in advance
Our data shows that travelers who book at least 3 weeks in advance save around 41% compared to booking last minute.
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Flight Deals
Booking Insights
Flight Deals

Cheap Flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg (SFO-JNB)

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg 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 round-trip flight deals from San Francisco to Johannesburg

Thu, Jan 29 - Wed, Feb 11
Virgin Atlantic Logo
6:00 am - 7:00 pm
SFO
-
JNB
27h 00m
1 stop
Virgin Atlantic Logo
9:55 pm - 7:56 pm
JNB
-
SFO
32h 01m
1 stop
$764Virgin Atlantic
Tue, Mar 31 - Tue, Apr 14
Delta Logo
10:35 pm - 7:40 pm
SFO
-
JNB
36h 05m
1 stop
Delta Logo
9:55 pm - 8:24 pm
JNB
-
SFO
31h 29m
1 stop
$770Delta
Fri, Jan 30 - Sun, Feb 8
SAUDIA Logo
7:00 am - 7:00 pm
SFO
-
JNB
26h 00m
2 stops
SAUDIA Logo
9:55 pm - 3:08 pm
JNB
-
SFO
27h 13m
2 stops
$779SAUDIA
Thu, Jan 29 - Wed, Feb 11
Multiple Airlines Logo
6:00 am - 10:05 pm
SFO
-
JNB
30h 05m
2 stops
Multiple Airlines Logo
7:20 pm - 1:25 pm
JNB
-
SFO
28h 05m
1 stop
$783Multiple Airlines
Thu, Jan 29 - Wed, Feb 11
Multiple Airlines Logo
7:00 am - 10:05 pm
SFO
-
JNB
29h 05m
2 stops
Multiple Airlines Logo
7:20 pm - 5:48 pm
JNB
-
SFO
32h 28m
2 stops
$792Multiple Airlines
Tue, Mar 31 - Tue, Apr 14
Delta Logo
6:05 am - 9:20 pm
SFO
-
JNB
30h 15m
2 stops
Delta Logo
9:55 pm - 8:24 pm
JNB
-
SFO
31h 29m
1 stop
$805Delta
Fri, Feb 6 - Fri, Feb 13
Delta Logo
11:40 am - 7:00 pm
SFO
-
JNB
21h 20m
1 stop
Delta Logo
10:00 pm - 2:40 pm
JNB
-
SFO
26h 40m
1 stop
$806Delta
Tue, Apr 14 - Tue, Apr 21
Delta Logo
6:00 am - 7:40 pm
SFO
-
JNB
28h 40m
2 stops
Delta Logo
11:15 pm - 11:59 pm
JNB
-
SFO
33h 44m
2 stops
$809Delta
Sat, Feb 14 - Thu, Feb 19
British Airways Logo
5:30 pm - 10:25 am
SFO
-
JNB
30h 55m
1 stop
British Airways Logo
10:00 pm - 3:00 pm
JNB
-
SFO
27h 00m
1 stop
$825British Airways
Tue, Apr 14 - Tue, Apr 21
British Airways Logo
4:35 pm - 7:00 am
SFO
-
JNB
29h 25m
1 stop
British Airways Logo
9:15 pm - 5:30 pm
JNB
-
SFO
29h 15m
1 stop
$840British Airways
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for San Francisco to Johannesburg flights

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

What is the cheapest month to fly from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg, 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 San Francisco to Johannesburg is February, where tickets cost $1,098 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and June, where the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,724 and $1,512 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg, 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 the flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg, you should book around 3 weeks before departure, which saves you about 41% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 17 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Cheapest flight$622
Flight from San Francisco to OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg

When to book flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg

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

FAQs for booking flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg

  • What is the cheapest flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    In the last 3 days, the lowest price for a flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg was $615 for a one-way ticket and $764 for a round-trip.

  • Do I need a passport to fly between San Francisco and Johannesburg?

    A passport is required to fly from San Francisco to Johannesburg.

  • Which airports will I be using when flying from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    San Francisco is served by only 1 airport and there are 2 airports in Johannesburg. You will leave San Francisco from San Francisco and you will be arriving in Johannesburg at one of these airports: Johannesburg Lanseria or Johannesburg OR Tambo.

  • Which aircraft models fly most regularly from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    We unfortunately don’t have that data for this specific route.

  • Which airline alliances offer flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    SkyTeam, Star Alliance, and oneworld are the airline alliances operating flights between San Francisco and Johannesburg, with SkyTeam being the most commonly used for this route.

  • What is the most popular layover when flying to Johannesburg from San Francisco?

    London is the most popular layover city among KAYAK users traveling from San Francisco to Johannesburg.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    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 San Francisco to Johannesburg.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Johannesburg from San Francisco 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 San Francisco to Johannesburg?

    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 Johannesburg with an airline and back to San Francisco with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg?

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

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from San Francisco to Johannesburg

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from San Francisco to Johannesburg. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. 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 San Francisco to Johannesburg? 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.
7.9
DeltaOverall score based on 8066 reviews
8.1Boarding
8.5Crew
7.9Comfort
7.2Food
7.8Entertainment
Airline reviews

Delta’s staff is unmatched. From the gate agents, to the pilots, to the flight attendants… all top of the industry.

10.0 ExcellentEric, Jan 2026
SFO - ATL
Read more Delta reviews

Delta’s staff is unmatched. From the gate agents, to the pilots, to the flight attendants… all top of the industry.

The flight was delayed for about 2 hrs. Other than it, it was good.

I am extremely disappointed that delta internal pilot manuals now refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “gulf of America”. You can bow down to the Orange turd on your own. I will never fly delta again

No lunch on a x-country flight scheduled for 10:50 am departure, arrived 5+ hrs later. That requires a black box label before you pay for the tickets. Worst, when I checked in online, it's specifically said that lunch was served on his flight for economy Plus passengers.

Our flight from SFO to MSP was right on time on 11/15/2025. No delays. As we approached MSP at about 8 pm, we circled in the air until 8:40 pm so I don't call that efficient for MSP. I think the captain should announce the delay and why. (as if we all don't know that we are just circling around the area, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down.) Thank you. Marilyn Fischer

Staff were friendly and happy. Delta could make sure passengers that don't have the app know of changes. Without Kayak I would not have known about the change of gate or the delay. Kayak was faster to notify me.

The flight used a B767 with a very old interior from before 2014. The entertainment system did not work at all during the flight despite attempts to reset the system. It was like they flew this route just to be competitive.

Delayed flight (1hour) plus a long layover after an overnight flight with no backup plane available.

Flight delayed for two and half hours and then canceled altogether due to mechanical issues. No mechanic onsite to fix so had to send one from LAX.

My husband upgraded our seats and I don't know if it was due to the type of planet was or if they didn't upgrade our seats. We were supposed to be in I believe comfort seats and they were just as tight as any other seat- no leg room and we are very tall people but at least it wasn't extremely cold. My husband did put in a complaint about our seating because he paid extra and if we would have known that the space and the tightness would have been the same, we just would have gotten the emergency row emergency row seats that we normally get. We love Delta but both our flights coming home we're not good. Oh I forgot to mention that on our flight to Hawaii our luggage wheels got broke and we had to purse new luggage on vacation then we never had this problem so we didn't know protocol and reported it after we got home only for them to tell is we only had 24hrs to report the damage. Not sure what was going on with Delta this vacation trip.

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

Great crew - old style upper class seats on the older fleet now feels dated

Premium economy more comfortable than economy, but not by much. Did was awful, do not try the omelette. Flight crew were helpful. Flight was delayed by over an hour. Overall but bad, arrived safely and thank God.

Food should be changed in menu Many muslims travels in this airlime they need to add one Halal meal

left on time, reasonable boarding process arrived early luggage came out quickly

Some flight attendants were great others were cranky. Seats were very tight and sitting on an aisle was very hard as the carts and people walking constantly bumped shoulder and arm.

Pushed back only to get deplaned due to a tire damaged by ground crew. They did at least go pretty fast. The bathrooms should be banned under the Geneva convention. No room to even sit straight on the toilet. The under-seat entertainment units block what little leg room there is.

United airlines has the best customer experience from booking to arrival. I always fly United airlines. The mileage program is excellent

from SFO-> FRA flight, AVML meal was significantly less compared to regular meal, especially no Desert, no Bread, no sides.

This was an older airplane. The cabin was constantly warm to hot throughout the 10 hour flight and there were no vents to personalize air flow. Also since it was an older plane, the material and comfort of the chairs were very uncomfortable. I left my flight with major soreness on my tailbone.

Older aircraft, no meal, only food was for purchase. Not impressed United.

Not pleasant trip cross country when the entertainment and WiFi system not working. No entertainment for entirety of route. Staff was rather nonchalant in that they dismissed the problem due to age of plane. It would have been nice to know this up front so I could have come prepared to read or download movies before boarding Coincidentally or not, there was a similar issue with the entertainment system on my previous flight I took on my fist leg of the trip. There are no seat TVs, so you must rely on the app when it works. United can do better. Also, what use it it to pay for boarding group 2 when half of the passengers are in the same line as you?

My experience on this United Airlines flight was highly uncomfortable, primarily due to two issues: Cabin Temperature: The temperature on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was unacceptably high, feeling consistently around 80 degrees throughout the flight. This made sleeping impossible and significantly detracted from the experience. Seating Arrangement: Being stuck in a middle seat for a six-and-a-half-hour overnight flight compounded the discomfort. Moving forward, I will always purchase a seat assignment to avoid this situation.

They oversold the tickets by one which was my ticket so I didn’t have a ticket till last second

Not good. I was supposed to be in Mint but got in economy class

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

Turkish Airline canceled our tickets in the very last minute, with our luggage and everything else, all prepared and good to go. It’s clear that they sold the tickets for better money to someone else. Bad, Bad, Bad business!!!

Awful seating. Bad food. Staff only have one bottle of water and no cans.

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.

The issue was not with BA it was with the link yoiu sent fopr booking the flight

Loved the boarding option from Business class lounge, experience on flight was excellent, plenty of good food choices

Awful it always is unfortunately is the only way to fly direct to london

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

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

Need to offer Better food from LAX to London Service from London to Delhi very delayed after take off.

Great crew and food and beverage. Seating tight but not the airline's fault. Will definitely fly BA in future!

Crying baby the ENTIRE flight. Not your fault, but I paid 2700 for a premium economy ticket and it wasn't worth it. should have just stuck with coach. flight attendants very mediocre - minimal effort. Plane didn't seem very clean. Didn't have any cleansing wipes - most airlines give you this when you board. Flat screen scrolling didn't work. Toiletry case a joke - why bother at all?

The staff were fantastic and couldn't have been more accomodating; however, the air-conditioning was broken in our section of the aircraft, leaving us feeling extremely cold and unwell on arrival in Johannesbury. The head sets were also faulty, causing difficulty when listening to announcements and entertainment.

Enjoyable flight, helpful crew everything was organized to accommodate passengers.

Everything you need to know for your flight from San Francisco to Johannesburg

Information on your arrival and departure airports