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Find cheap flights from San Francisco to South Africa from $737

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 South Africa departing on 5/22. 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
0 bags
Sun 5/26
Sun 6/2

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Best South Africa Flight Deals

Cheapest round-trip prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours

Johannesburg
Johannesburg2 stops$951
Cape Town
Cape Town2 stops$1,141
East London
East London2 stops$1,471
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein2 stops$1,709
Polokwane
Polokwane2 stops$2,214

Good to know

Low season

January

High season

December

Cheapest flight

$737
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 7% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 10% increase in price.
Flight from San Francisco to OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg

FAQs - booking South Africa flights

  • Is it a good idea to buy a ticket with an airport change during a layover?

    It depends. Some tickets from SFO to South Africa require you to change airports within a city during a layover or to collect your bags and check in again for the next leg of your flight. This can be time-consuming, and getting across town to another airport could get expensive. Before you book a ticket with a re-check-in or an airport change, make sure that the ticket leaves you enough time to do it and that all aspects of the change or the re-check-in are feasible.

  • What documentation do I need in order to fly to South Africa?

    US citizens flying to South Africa need a valid passport that is still valid at least 30 days beyond the date when you enter South Africa. This passport must have two consecutive empty pages per entry. You do not need a visa if you plan to leave South Africa in 90 days or fewer.

  • Does SFO have therapy dogs?

    Yes. When you are at SFO waiting for your flight to South Africa, you might encounter the Wag Brigade, therapy dogs roaming Departures with their trained handlers. SFO hopes these therapy dogs can delight, distract, and comfort passengers waiting to travel. The Wag Brigade includes several dogs, a pig, and a rabbit.

  • Does SFO have a hotel at the airport?

    Yes. If you would like to stay at the airport the night before your flight to South Africa, consider staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at SFO. Connected to all of the terminals by way of the free AirTrain, this upscale hotel offers free Wi-Fi, room service, a fitness center, a business center, and much more.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Francisco 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 San Francisco to South Africa.

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

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to South Africa 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 South Africa?

    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 South Africa 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 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 San Francisco 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 cheap flights to South Africa

  • Morning departure is around 11% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
  • San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is a hub for Alaska Airlines. When you fly from the shores of the San Francisco Bay to South Africa, you will have many choices of destination city, airline, flight time, and price.
  • When you fly from SFO to Johannesburg, chances are you will be landing at the O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB). Turkish Airlines, Delta, and KLM are among the airlines that offer one-stop flights from San Francisco to Johannesburg. Some common layover cities include Istanbul, Atlanta, Amsterdam, and others. Alaska Airlines, Ethiopian Air, and United are among the carriers that offer two-stop flights from SFO to JNB.
  • If you want to fly from SFO to Cape Town at the southern tip of South Africa, you'll most likely be landing in the Cape Town International Airport (CPT). Turkish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, and KLM are among the carriers that offer one-stop flights from SFO to CPT, with layovers in cities such as Istanbul, Zurich, and Amsterdam. KLM, Ethiopian Air, and Delta are among the airlines that offer two-stop flights from SFO to CPT.
  • If you want to fly to Durban on the east coast of South Africa, you will most likely be landing at the King Shaka International Airport (DUR). Qatar Airways, SWISS, and Turkish Airlines are among the many carriers that offer two-stop and three-stop flights from SFO to DUR., with stops in Istanbul, Johannesburg, Paris, and others.
  • If you are flying into the city of Pietermaritzburg, about an hour inland from Durban, you will most likely be landing at the Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB). You can find two-stop flights from SFO to PZB on airlines such as Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, with stops in cities such as Istanbul, Johannesburg, and Doha.
See more tips
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

Top 5 airlines serving from San Francisco to South Africa

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Francisco 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.
8.0
DeltaOverall score based on 10975 reviews
8.2boarding
7.4food
7.9comfort
8.0entertainment
8.6crew
Airline reviews

There was a loud squeaky sound the whole time we were flying.

6.0 GoodEliza, Apr 2024SAN - LAX
Read more about Delta reviews

There was a loud squeaky sound the whole time we were flying.

I didn’t not like that I could not select my seat and ended up with the worse seat.

The landing was bad and the hostess came two times and i was sleeping but when she served the person that nexts to me I woke up and she didn’t even asked me if I need any drink or snacks two times!!!!

Plane was late because of a mechanical malfunction and the food listed as available was not. Flight attendants seem over worked and under paid. They just done seem happy. And that can be seen in their faces.

Waited 3 hours on a plane to de-ice due to manpower issues. Waited another hour and a half once we landed because of a gate issue. Missed my connections. Created. A total of 13 hours of delay.

Great, on time departure, friendly and accommodating crew, great leg room, Smith flight

Plane was turned around due to fog half way into the flight, Delta did not properly direct passengers to stay on same flight and instead failed to properly rebook on Alaska

Honestly, I didn’t expect that I will experience this long time wait during the check in. There was only one person who was taking care of the passengers for the economy class and it took us to wait about one hour to do our check i. As a result we barely get to the airplane as the gate was at the end of the airport. That is totally not professional where one crue is working at the registration desk with economy and 3-4 crues are helping for the business class.

Like most domestic flights in the US, you are basically on your own with this airline when it comes to food, so be sure to purchase meals and drinks ahead of time or expect to arrive starving and dehydrated (like I was).

You need to be a hacker to get the (Free) WiFi

Operated by American Airlines. Very chaotic and the crew was bit rough responding any enquiries. Restricted leg space.. Qatar would have been better

Qatar airways from Doha to guangzhau was excellent big bird Boeing 777 more room and smoothly flight, I Love it

It was good no problems made it on time for the next flight overseas!

The made us waiting and held our passports and boarding pass making us miss our flights

Not impressed. Only allowed one carry on on such a long flight.

The flight was good but my neighbor had the vent open full power for the whole flight and because the air was blowing from the side instead of from the top and I got very cold and ended up with a sore throat.

Bad experience with the delay n long wait time for connecting flight after missing the connection flight from Doha.

Wore experience due to delay and took me 3 days to reach my destination.

All over with Qatar airlines my experience was really bad due to delays and then putting me on different airlines and after 8 hours of wait I had to listen to their is no plane to fly for another 24 hours. Wore experience ever.

Excellent will be flying again in May with Qatar. to Botswana.

Nothing really was great as such. Seen other no name airlines perform better.

Quality of service on board was very inconsistent. FA service primarily seemed robotic and they barely engaged with passengers

I’m unclear why I had to pay extra for assigned seats as Turkish airlines did not honor the seating. We were placed across the aisle from each other on TK 34, and were seated behind one another on TK 694. Because my name was misspelled on e-ticket (Klawiter, instead of Klawitter) I could not log onto website to get the connection gate number in Istanbul. The monitors in the airport were a jumbled mess 1/2 Arabic and 1/2 English.

On line check in needs a lot of improvement. I tried and gave up.

Food not good, flight attendants not the best, not accommodating very ruff

the female flight attendant was racist towards me. I could tell she treated the two other passengers next to me with more softness.

Oh my god! For an13 hour flight they serve you food just one time. Also don’t be thirsty they give you a little small cup of soda to drink. They seem like their goal is to feed you one so they don’t have to be bothered with you. It quite surprise for such a long flight there are several times to eat at least three and the food was well lackluster. The food and lack of offering drinks which were always hot no ice provided.

We were traveling first class. Checkin counter lady and her manager, both were in bad mood and did not treat us well about checking in the handbag. The gate agent took care of it right away. I travel Turkish twice a year in first class. No one has ever refused to check in the hand bag. Not sure, why this agent and her manager refused. Everything else was excellent.

The 787 economy was a disaster for long haul. The space was too little compared to 777 or 747. Also the extremely low tray table behind the seat made any dining effort a nightmare. However, the movies were up to date, and the food taste was good, despite of terrible serving process caused by small space.

A little bit more comfort. It’s tight space around the seats. But all else is great and a smooth flight!

Hated every minute of it. This flight should have only taken 1.5hrs but was delayed over 10hours. Now I am being told I cannot be compensated or refunded my ticket price or extra leg room, which I purchased but did not receive, because the airline is throwing the blame on the 3rd party I purchased tickets through and 3rd party putting the blame on airline. No one wants to help. They received their money and that's all they care about. Im going on 3 days of still trying to get to my final destination, had to cancel car rental, car insurance and hotel. Currently staying in airport until hotels open up. Thank you Lufthansa, Kayak, Underpricer and United for making this trip the worst ever.

Crew was great and did their best to make us comfortable and captain came out at the beginning to announce why the flight was delayed, weather situation up ahead, and kept us updated throughout the flight.

United WiFi is consistently unusable (it can take 10 mins to load a single web page). If you need Wifi to do work, be prepared to lose half a day of productivity.

Awful. I got stuck next to a person carrying a dog and behind someone with a dog. People need to board these dogs downstairs. The cabin is crowded enough with your pets

Packed in like sardines, very uncomfortable. Sitting the aisle my shoulder was rammed into numerous times by rushing flight attendants. Also flight was very cold.

Beverage and food services are excellent. We enjoy paying the extra for economy plus for the 3 inches more leg room to be exact.

Flight was delayed by 3 hours. The pilot made up 1 hour during the flight, but that made the wait at the airport 5 hours once you factor getting there 2 hours early.

Airline did not explain reasons why flight was delayed two hours. Explanations were badly needed and rarely provided. Problem seemed to clearly be the airline’s fault and not the fault of the weather or airport.

Very uncomfortable seats and seat backs, and I am only 5’9”. Delayed due to crew issues, spent a long time with no ventilation. Teeny overhead bins. Wifi worked well. Arrived safely.

I was delighted that we were able to get on the 4:40 pm flight rather than our original booking at 6:55 pm!! Other than that, the flight was comfortable and landed early😊

Excellent! Great flight attendants, good food (in business class, at least), very comfortable. Touchscreen and remote wasn’t great.

In economy and food was ok, but with limited leg space (and I was in a 2 seat configuration) it was difficult to eat with a tiny seat tray. I spilt wine on my trousers. First time on British Air (I usually fly Turkish Air) and in a 777. Heathrow was pleasant but changing terminals awkward.

Starting with the flight Cairo to London the plain was so poor no entertainment at all uncomfortable seats although it’s 5 hours long,then an American airline plain took me from London to Miami it was a bad experience the crew most of flight time not available and they asked us to help our selves for any snacks if we need. From Miami to London actually was perfect flight with a huge plain and perfect crew but from London to Cairo was horrible plain with stiff fixed seats not movable no entertainment or wi fi very poor Menu which is unacceptable for a business class

The crew on board were all very pleasant and happy to help. The flight had the old business class seats. The departure board in the business lounge did not update and kept on saying ' gate open' but never said boarding. When I got nervous about the departure time and walked to the gate I was told off rudely for being late.

This was an American Airlines flight. The crew were very unhappy and quite grumpy. Abrupt to the point of being rude. The food was dreadful. Indeed the breakfast was in edible. I will avoid AA at all costs in the future.

We have business class seats from Los Angeles to London. The crew is friendly and provided great service. The flight was very comfortable and very smooth. Will use this airlines again in the future.

Asked for a wheelchair multiple times. Got denied the wheelchair in London layover.

Flight delayed Got bags after 5 days Delivery of bags was done 500 meters as driver did not want to go into my street

It was below average experience overall. They did not have my food choice which was selected a month ago for 8+ hour flight. After landing I waited to collect my bag but my bag did not come and I wasn’t told it was delayed or lost. I had to find someone to help me to locate it and it was sent through next flight. Overall I would say at wasn’t very good experience

Great service and air hostesses, took care of all activities very well and smooth

Book cheap flights from San Francisco to South Africa

Recent round-trip flight deals

10/8Tue
2 stopsKenya Airways
50h 00mSFO-JNB
11/12Tue
2 stopsKenya Airways
47h 55mJNB-SFO
$951
9/18Wed
2 stopsKenya Airways
51h 45mSFO-JNB
10/22Tue
2 stopsKenya Airways
46h 55mJNB-SFO
$1,057
5/6Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
32h 15mSFO-CPT
6/7Fri
1 stopTurkish Airlines
27h 45mCPT-SFO
$1,213
10/14Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
32h 15mSFO-CPT
10/21Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
27h 45mCPT-SFO
$1,298
5/9Thu
1 stopBritish Airways
29h 05mSFO-JNB
5/22Wed
1 stopBritish Airways
26h 55mJNB-SFO
$1,395
5/13Mon
2 stopsBritish Airways
33h 20mSFO-JNB
5/20Mon
1 stopBritish Airways
26h 55mJNB-SFO
$1,399
8/30Fri
2 stopsDelta
36h 00mSFO-CPT
9/13Fri
1 stopDelta
25h 48mCPT-SFO
$1,409
10/14Mon
2 stopsUnited Airlines
32h 13mSFO-JNB
10/22Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
26h 40mJNB-SFO
$1,413
10/23Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
26h 40mSFO-CPT
11/6Wed
2 stopsUnited Airlines
45h 19mCPT-SFO
$1,414
10/5Sat
2 stopsDelta
35h 50mSFO-CPT
10/25Fri
1 stopDelta
25h 48mCPT-SFO
$1,509

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Recent one-way flight deals

5/22Wed
3 stopsRwandAir
37h 50mSFO-JNB
$737
5/17Fri
3 stopsRwandAir
37h 50mSFO-JNB
$739
5/3Fri
2 stopsTurkish Airlines
32h 55mSFO-DUR
$1,028
5/25Sat
1 stopBritish Airways
30h 40mSFO-CPT
$1,126
10/1Tue
2 stopsUnited Airlines
31h 38mSFO-CPT
$1,158
5/22Wed
1 stopBritish Airways
34h 30mSFO-CPT
$1,164
5/26Sun
1 stopTurkish Airlines
30h 55mSFO-JNB
$1,184
5/21Tue
2 stopsDelta
33h 20mSFO-JNB
$1,212
5/24Fri
2 stopsDelta
32h 10mSFO-CPT
$1,212
5/30Thu
2 stopsUnited Airlines
32h 15mSFO-JNB
$1,218

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Last minute flights from San Francisco to South Africa

Last minute flight, train and bus deals

4/29Mon
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
32h 15mSFO-CPT
5/2Thu
multi-stopTurkish Airlines
27h 45mCPT-SFO
$1,466
4/29Mon
multi-stop
32h 15mSFO-CPT
5/2Thu
multi-stop
30h 55mCPT-SFO
$1,728
4/29Mon
multi-stopEthiopian Air
29h 55mSFO-CPT
5/2Thu
multi-stopEthiopian Air
33h 59mCPT-SFO
$2,018
4/29Mon
multi-stopQatar Airways
38h 00mSFO-CPT
5/2Thu
multi-stopQatar Airways
38h 00mCPT-SFO
$2,037
4/28Sun
multi-stopUnited Airlines
30h 11mSFO-CPT
5/2Thu
multi-stopUnited Airlines
30h 31mCPT-SFO
$2,180
4/27Sat
multi-stop
33h 30mSFO-CPT
5/5Sun
multi-stop
38h 32mCPT-SFO
$6,788
4/27Sat
multi-stopQatar Airways
33h 40mSFO-CPT
5/5Sun
multi-stopQatar Airways
27h 35mCPT-SFO
$8,504
4/27Sat
multi-stopEthiopian Air
29h 55mSFO-CPT
5/5Sun
multi-stopEthiopian Air
43h 29mCPT-SFO
$11,511
4/29Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
30h 45mSFO-JNB
5/1Wed
multi-stopBritish Airways
29h 20mJNB-SFO
$14,911
4/29Mon
multi-stopBritish Airways
35h 22mSFO-JNB
5/1Wed
multi-stopBritish Airways
29h 20mJNB-SFO
$15,031

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