$616 Find Cheap Flights from South Africa to California - Compare and Save

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from South Africa to California departing on 9/6. 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

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These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to California
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Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to California

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

What is the cheapest month to fly from South Africa to California?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights from South Africa to California, 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 South Africa to California is November, when tickets cost $442 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are August and April, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $633 and $622 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from South Africa to California?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to California, 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 South Africa to California, you should book around 3 weeks before departure, which saves you about 7% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 24 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$616
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 1% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 6% lower on average.
Flight from Durban to San Francisco

FAQs for booking flights from South Africa to California

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from South Africa to California?

    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 South Africa to California.

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

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

    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 from South Africa to California 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 South Africa to California?

    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 South Africa to California 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 South Africa to California

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to California. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from South Africa to California. 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 South Africa to California? 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
DeltaOverall score based on 8419 reviews
7.8Comfort
7.2Food
8.5Crew
8.1Boarding
7.8Entertainment
Airline reviews

Flight delayed four separate times. I’m now one hour hours late to landing.

2.0 MediocreTravis, Jun 2026
SFO - LAX
Read more Delta reviews

Flight delayed four separate times. I’m now one hour hours late to landing.

worst flight ever from Delta, it got delayed and kept on delaying..

Everything went smoothly, although the usual gripes about airline travel were still present: the boarding process is inefficient, the snack selection is limited, and so on. Since there was extra space on the flight, the gate agent rearranged many people's seats to put people on the aisles and windows, leaving the middle seats empty, as much as possible, which was pretty great.

While they turned off most cabin lights to allow people to sleep, I was bothered by how bright the side lights still were. It was still quite bright for me in a window seat, when I wish I could have slept!

One of the flight attendants was a little cranky. I appreciated the free wifi and plug to charge my laptop

WiFi didn’t work most of the time. The usb chargers would work only occasionally for 5 mins and wouldn’t charge after that. Had to keep trying repeatedly at each of the seats in the row.

The crew bent over backwards to thank us for flying and make us comfortable. The food service was quick and efficient. The Captain communicated and said goodbye and thank you as we departed. They really stood out!

Generally on time departures and arrivals, clean planes, sky miles membership provides great benefits (complimentary upgrades, etc).

my mom urmila patel needed a wheelchair which was not available on the curbside. she needed to walk almost 50 meters inside (at the risk of falling) and then had to wait in line to get a wheelchair (this is not ok). Once obtained she had to seat in it for 30-45 minutes for someone to take her in thru the checkin process (which was fairly smooth and easy). the lady who helped her with her checkin process was very courteous and helpful

Staff at the check-in counter were friendly, happy and helpful. They tagged our bags and sent us to “bag drop off” but were not very clear about where that was. The airport was busy we headed off in what we thought was the right direction until a gentleman waved us down and actually came after us. He was the baggage handler for Delta and recognized our “deer in the headlights “ look-he brought us to the right area (which was marked as the Southwest Airlines Drop Off) and sent us on our way. Wonderful guy, low key and working with a big smile on his face. Loved it. Loved him.

Older plane with finicky seats. Crew often seem to focus on "pet" clients and over extend services to some over others. I get less attention since I'm not a regular business class client. Regardless, I've paid the money and would expect equal attention.

Our flight attendant was stellar with great anticipation and attention to details. Food was very good, and overall flight, though very long, was really good.

Be honest of what you sell: This was sold as Business Class on all three legs, while the JetBlue plane didn't even have business class seats, and wanted $164 for extra legroom seats.

Great food, and lots of it. They made us come to the gate two hours before the flight and you were stuck in the enclosure until you boarded with no bathroom or food or drink. My seat in business class was very claustrophobic, I could barely get into it and a large board blocked the window and made it even more claustrophobic

Turkish Business Class is a wonderful experience, and the best inflight dining experience I’ve had to date.

The crew was amazing and the food was really good too

Some of the best service I’ve ever seen on an international flight! The staff were super friendly and accommodating. The food was excellent with lots of choices and attention to detail. The seats are kind of old and narrow, but I have wide shoulders. The only area for improvement was making the cabin a little cooler.

It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. It’s comfortable the flight attendant. Respect you anything you ask for they gave you except the water.

We were experiencing delayed for 4 hours and of course they took us to Turkish airlines lounge but we could not rested up since there is no bedroom. It was tiring and long day for us🙏 Especially we didn’t fly until 5:45am morning for Miami🙏😢

On Turkish it is all about the food and the service. I am overwhelmed with the quality and variety of the dining service offered on business class. I prefer the updated A350 to the older B777 cabin layout, but both are comfortable. Flights left and arrived on time with updates from the captain. I will definitely fly with them again.

The flight got delayed. They forgot to bring the drinks when I asked for it. The toilet is messy.

This was an overnight flight, and in the morning they did know coffee service. How you can throw passengers in a San Francisco airport at 5:40 a.m. in the morning and not giving them Coffee is a crime.

Our flight was delayed several Times due to mechanical issues. Although I understand this may happen at times, it was very inconvenient and we had to book a hotel for an overnight stay. We were traveling with my 3-yo grandson and waiting at the airport from noon until 6:30pm with no reassurance that our next rescheduled flight would depart, we had to decide what’s best for him. A day later, I found out that I may be able to demand compensation if my flight is delayed more than 4 hours. I will hav to read the fine print next time.

Service was professional and quick. Premium economy seat was comfortable given the class

Like: departed and arrived on time. Unlike: Food options for purchase allways bad, 1 of 2 of the crew members not very friendly at all. Seats and leg room aweful. At this point I am thinking on switching to AA.

The staff was extremely helpful and friendly at all times! They went above and beyond to get us into an earlier flight in San Diego to make our connection in SFO possible, because our original flight did actually not make it! I did so much appreciate the UA team and how they made this possible. We also didn’t have seats together on the long flight to Singapore, but they found us seats together last moment with no additional cost! Nobody sat next to us, so that we were able to sleep! Thanks to UA for improving their service and Underpricer for booking this trip! Please be careful: 1,5 hrs for transfer in San Francisco might not be enough time in the future

Crew was great! Good meals. Had room to stretch out

Packed flight, which makes it tough on crew and boarding staff (and the customers of course). But this was great boarding, clear instructions, etc. Traveling on the weekends are always fraught with danger as you have families and less frequent flyers thus more confusion. But this flight went as planned.

Destroyed my suitcase. Tired of talking about it. Cancelling my unite mileage plus account.

New plane was lovely. Crew customer service is always lax but expected. Kraft on time and arrived safely.

It was so much better than expected, Ohare is not such a pleasant experience but American Airlines with the new, clean aeroplane and free Wi-Fi was outstanding and the crew so pleasant and helpful.

This was my first flight on Aer Lingus and it was great. The plane wasn't full so I could move to a seat with extra room. The food was pretty good for airline food and the staff was nice and attentive. I enjoyed the media provided during my 10 hour flight. We arrived home early and it's always good to be home!

Was put into a seat right behind the toilet that had no entertainment possible but did have plenty of leg room over noisy part of plane.

The seat when "flat" was not flat and pad was too thin to cover it.

American delayed the flight for a crew rest period. The delay occurred late in the evening - the earliest i can find is 10:20 pm. With a 6 am flight anyone on the flight would have already have been asleep (unless you are insane, a vampire or on drugs) and at least for me i was already on the way to the airport at 445 am the next morning when i discovered they delayed the flight until 9 am. Given the incoming flight was in the air at 6 pm the evening before this should have been figured out a lot more timely that was there only crew to use. Just frustrating given there is no consideration for customer experience anymore in flying.

Flight: Started on time. Comfortable flight. Arrived on time. Crew: Very cordial and helpful. Drinks and snack was served with a smile. Overall enjoyed the trip. Regards, Hari Doss Chanchala Doss

To have arrived on time and not 3 hours late after having already spent $100 to change to an earlier flight, only to arrive back home close to the original flight time.

American Airlines is a miserable experience. It is predictably miserable, in the sense that every time I fly American, I brace myself for the certainty that it will be unpleasant and uncomfortable. But it is unpredictable in the sense that I never know if the flight will be on time or delayed nine hours (both happened to me this week). I never know if I will be able to sit in the seat that I selected when I purchased the ticket or if I will be told by Customer Service (!!!) that I must relocate from first class to a seat in the back of the aircraft with no explanation (both happened to me this week). Will the food be frozen and half defrosted, or scalding hot? Will the drinks be warm? Will the flight attendants be surly and mean? Will the toilets be cramped and foul? Will the seats be narrow and uncomfortable? Will there be a real electric outlet at the seat, or just an unreliable USB-2 port? Will there be enough seats in the boarding lounge or just a few? Will the boarding process be smooth and efficient, or will the gate agents mess it up and delay it needlessly for 30 or 40 minutes? Will the catering and cleaning crew be prompt or will they take an extra 30 minutes? Will the brakes on the aircraft work properly, or will the pilot delay takeoff for four hours while the ground crew attends to what can only be described as routine maintenance that should have been done the night before? I've eexperienced every one of these unpleasant things this year, 2026. The only thing I can reliably count on is that American will find a new way to make the experience of flying as miserable as they possibly can.

Wifi was spotty. Tray table was very dirty when I sat down.

The WiFi would not connect enough for me to do my actual work. It permaspooled, disconnected, said it was connected, then wouldn't open an email... it was frustrating. I am not a tall person, 5'4" - and I felt cramped with little room to reach into my bag under the seat in front of me. I feel sorry for anyone taller than me having to fly. the one positive thing I will add, is the overhead bins are roomy enough to manage more bags than other carriers.

Thanks to a delay of an hour of my flight to Philadelphia on American Airlines I missed my connecting flight to Amsterdam. On arrival at Philadelphia he crew on the delayed flight did not ask the passengers to let connecting passengers get off first and I arrived a few minutes after boarding was closed at the original time for the flight to AMS, this despite the fact that I had received a message from American Airlines that departure was delayed by 25 minutes. Overall very poor service, no effort from the part of American Airlines to accommodate the passenger, just rebook the flight for the next day.

Seats not as comfortable as I had hoped. Food was very nice, service was fine. Entertainment options very nice. Had thought the premium economy was a more plus 2-3-2 layout but it was a 2-4-2 with seats not as wide as I had expected.

I liked my seats on the return trip. Didn't like having to pay for luggage on an international flight. Also didn't like that it was on American airlines and not British Airways. I specifically selected a BA flight to experience that airline.

I flew four flights on British Airways within two weeks. I was unable to download the boarding pass to my phone for any of the four flights. I could check-in for my flight but the system would not give me boarding pass. I tried multiple ways and multiple times. I discovered many other passengers also had the same issue with their boarding passes. No explanation or acknowledgement by BA.

Lovely big plane. Excellent take off and landing. Cabin crew were so nice. Flight in time no delays

Because our ABZ-LHR flight was cancelled by BA for reasons they refuse to tell us--not weather--we did not make this flight and were booked on the following day. BA offered no assistance to us on the phone or in the airport, and we had to find a hotel at Heathrow on our own.

Horrible - flight was delayed by 6 hours - we boarded, were made to de-board due some technical fault; aircraft changed; special meals request on new flight - all went awry. Landed in Dulles airport; breezed thru immigration; as Business Class passengers or baggage was delivered almost 90 minutes after landing; air tags indicated the bags were just near the carousel but the unhelpful BA staff - Maria and Ghina refused to give any update - palming it off on some imaginary invisible “manager” despite air tags evidence showing it right there. So about 50-60 passengers waiting and getting infuriatingly impatient for their bags coz one container was not delivered. Finally after much argument by some other passengers Maria condescended to go to the “ramp” and within 5 minutes the baggage was delivered miraculously. Question is why couldn’t she have done it one hour earlier ? Poor poor experience once again on Business Class BA.

Cheap Flight Fares would not provide booking info. I canceled the reservation and we arbitrated with American Express. They provided erroneous info to Amex and it was determined that C.F.F. deserved the price of the ticket. Worse experience I've ever had.

Seating space is appalling. Seats and all surrounding area in "Economy" is built for individuals shorter than 4' 10" and below 120 lbs. Ridiculous. While I'm not expecting fine dining, the food was the worst airplane food that I can recall.

My luggage was lost at the airport but American Airlines contacted me and got it to me the next day.

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to California

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