$511 Find Cheap Flights from South Africa to California - Compare and Save

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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?

The cheapest month for flights from South Africa to California is February, when tickets cost $753 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are March and January, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $1,448 and $1,202 respectively.

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

To get a below average price on the flight from South Africa to California, you should book around 2 weeks before departure, which saves you about 9% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 23 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low season

January

Cheapest flight

$511
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 4% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 2% lower on average.
Flight from Cape Town to Los Angeles

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

 
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 8666 reviews
7.8Entertainment
7.8Comfort
8.5Crew
8.1Boarding
7.2Food
Airline reviews

dropped my bags at Seattle Delta curbside. 1.5 hours before departure. one bag oversized made it. the other was left at curb and mishandled. poor communication from delta in sjc baggage claim. No internet on flight and food choices in business are horrible. You are forcing us to fly Alaska which is shockingly better than the Delta experience. that is a low bar.

2.0 MediocreDerek, Oct 2026
Read more Delta reviews

dropped my bags at Seattle Delta curbside. 1.5 hours before departure. one bag oversized made it. the other was left at curb and mishandled. poor communication from delta in sjc baggage claim. No internet on flight and food choices in business are horrible. You are forcing us to fly Alaska which is shockingly better than the Delta experience. that is a low bar.

attendents were rude and the boarding was disjointed and poor

There was an incredibly surly flight attendant that ruined the experience

After boarding the plane had to wait an hour at the for the copilot to show up before we could depart

The cabin and bathroom experience was poor as the cabin and bathroom were dirty and showed signs of an older plane that had not been updated for Customer’s, comfort and health. There was gum on my seat when I arrived and dirt spots around the fan and light controls. The flight was almost entirely full, so there was no way I could be moved from my seat. Th bathroom had the peeling paint.

Great crew. Comfortable seating. Nice overhead bin space. My app didn't allow me to check in for my flight to BOS. When I called Support, they didn't fix it, but just told me to check in at the airport. Seat back entertainment was great. Could be better if the audio could connect to Bluetooth.

I'm 6' 2" and even in economy plenty of leg room

great! appreciated the last minute upgrade to Comfort+ exit row, as well

My seat was changed without my consent. It wasn’t a major deal but annoying.

Flew in first class. It received service and attention that would be considered poor even by economy standards.

If I had a chance to rate Turkish airline in negative I will definitely give -100. Worst non professional attitude of ground staff at Istanbul. If I was a owner of Turkish airline I would definitely fire all check-in staff who was on duty for this flight. Rude attitude to all customers. Non availability of food options. Chicken and fish option was finished within 8 rows and only pasta was available (seat rows 25- last row). Seat Front glove boxes were ripped and all stuff was dropping on floor. Flight crew was trying to pacify the customers but this is sole responsibility of the manager who arranged / booked the food for this flight. He must be removed from this position as he has no idea about his job. It was worst flight during my whole life. Never booking again on Turkish airline.

We liked the comfort and seats. The crew was not very friendly nor did they check on us to see if we needed anything. Had to ask for water several times

Nice, it was nice to have a free night's stay because our layover was over 18 hours.

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.

Extremely bad BAD BAD BAD. NEVER TURKISH AIRLINES EVER AGAIN..PIRATES COMPANY.

The staff at the boarding or the rudest uninformative and no English whatsoever they’re very rude as if they are envious of you travelling I don’t understand how could someone would be this rude and this out of touch and cold

You charged me for luggage although the airline does not- you charged me for seat when customers can pick their own seat at checkout in I travel to Europe slot and I will not use kayak again

To be prepared for being treated with disrespect by the ground crew.

Seats too much and for the price we paid eve thought economy we still had to pay $169 to check a ba that’s ridiculous and also my daughter needed water so she can take her medicine we push the boton for the attendant to get us water they never came we push it 3 times no one came and ask what we needed . Am not happy with the service at all I will not fly with TK anymore

The flight went great. Of course sleeping is always a challenge for me when sitting up but there’s nothing they could’ve done about that. All went as great as it could’ve. Food great, friendly flight attendants and good entertainment.

Paid $10 for wifi for full flight duration and the wifi wasn’t available after initial 2 hours

All the crew members were too slow and rude. Most of the times the registers were empty, while hundreds of customers were waiting in line, and it was impossible to get a supervisor. Despite being in line on time, I missed my freight, plus a some customers who were ahead and behind me.

Wasn’t allowed to continue with the purchased tickets because I hadn’t been able to go on the first scheduled leg.

Do I need to repeat my complaints about my lost carry on bag?

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.

Transit , Too long for terminal change, for a moment I thought Qatar airlines going to Los Angeles by bus. Please make transit convenient and quick.

some sections of airport are too cramped. The screening of luggage was twice and a huge hassle. They kept saying my boarding the for my next flight was in 10 minutes but were dragging the screening too long. having a 2 hour connecting time with this much delays in screenings is not good. They could see I was traveling with special needs kid yet I was" randomly chosen" to be personally screened again.

Ambience of the aircraft was great. Spacious seats with sufficient leg room in economy class. The layover could have been shorter.

Just snacks, could have more options.boarding was good. Everything else was good. We had a very bad experience with Qatar airways. We were deplaned a few minutes after boarding the flight. Had to wait 8 hours at the airport for the next replacement aircraft to take off. Had a harrowing experience. Were offered coupons for a small meal at the airport. Uncertainty caused a lot of stress and I got a cold and flu like symptoms.

I purchased a Polaris ticket. The plane did not have the lie flat seats - I was not notified. I actually can not believe they traded a dif plane and did not notify me or refund monies

⭐ Absolutely AWFUL Experience with United Airlines! If I could give United Airlines ZERO stars, I would. The seats have practically NO legroom, making the flight feel like being crammed into a tin can with nowhere to move. Comfort? Forget about it! And the fees? Absolutely ridiculous! They seem to charge you for EVERYTHING. You pay for your ticket, then get hit with extra charges for things that should be part of a decent flying experience. What’s next, charging passengers for breathing? Flying with United feels less like being a valued customer and more like being a walking wallet. The seats are uncomfortable, the legroom is pathetic, and the constant nickel-and-diming is infuriating. For the price you pay, you would think they could at least provide a little space to stretch your legs and a travel experience that doesn’t leave you feeling ripped off. Do yourself a favor and look at other airlines before booking with United. I certainly won’t be rushing to fly with them again. Absolutely disappointing from start to finish!

My flight from Boston to SFO was fine. Crew was friendly and helpful. Food was mediocre. Fright from SFO to MNL was not as good. My flight attendant was friendly but didn’t seem to have a lot of experience. She seemed overwhelmed. Also, this was the only red eye business class flight I’ve flown which only served dinner 2 hours after takeoff in a 13 hr flight. When I woke up 1 hr before landing, everyone was eating so I assumed bkft was being served. I pushed my button for help and no one came so I approached my flight attendant and she said they don’t serve bkft but she gave me choices for lunch or dinner. I routinely fly business class but I was disappointed with the lack of service and attention I was given on this flight. Also, most airlines will offer a snack or coffee before bkft is served but this was not offered during this flight. Overall, it was disappointing.

It's not United, but TSA security at Terminal A in Newark is a disaster and seriously makes me consider switching to flying out of JFK. The touchless TSA pre-check had a line of over 50 people and the bag screening was so slow that it limited the flow of people through the facial recognition process. It is the only airport that I frequent that has this issue and makes me reconsider whether I should fly out of Newark given the wasted time and frustration it causes. As I said, it is not a United issue but will impact United if people choose to stop utilizing Newark airport because of the poor experience.

The food could be much better. Also very unfortunate that most of business class seats were empty but I could not upgrade.

Bag got checked but I thought one personal item was guaranteed.

The seats are very small, that is all the staff did a good job.

Good food and entertainment. Poor choices for drinks. Sitting for 12 hours on the row by the restrooms, which do not recline, was a torture

The flight was for my mom in wheelchair the staff in Newark wer not friendly took a long time to even get a wheelchair she almost missed her flight because they finally got a chair few minutes before boarding they had to rush her to the gate. They took her carryon and checked it as a bag told her don’t worry free of charge but they charge the credit card anyway. She also told me the seats are not comfortable at all as if they were broken she could feel the bars in the seat SFO staff was much better overall she had the worst experience

First class flight crew was barely available. They came through 3 times while we were on the plane for nearly 4 hours.

We never made this flight due to the flight from Barcelona being delayed, which I have reviewed in a separate review. But I can tell you that the Delta Airlines flight that did get us home, I am extremely happy with them and their crew. The only one person that I would praise within the entire part of BA is the girl I spoke to in the call center in India. Who completely understood, was dedicated to a resolution and was a complete realist in the situation. Unlike some of the people who don’t care about the human element and stick you on a flight whenever. She got us home.

You're asking 2 different questions. The flight from Los Angeles to London (and from London to Faro) was on British Airways. Those flights were awful. The app didn't provide detailed information, the WiFi that I paid for didn't work, the form I had to fill out to re-enter the UK was not communicated clearly so I nearly missed my flight. British Airways is significantly behind every other airline I've traveled in every way. American Airlines flight form London to Los Angeles was great. In the future, I will avoid flying British Airways when I can.

Our section of the aircraft in premium economy was very cold. We asked the attendants twice to raise the heat but it never happened. Even with the blanket it was chilly for 10 1/2 hours

Waited until boarding started before saying there was no overhead luggage space on the plane.

It makes no sense for several types of drinks to already be out of stock in the middle of the flight.

Incredible. The upgrade to Business was a phenomenal way to end my trip, beyond grateful for the generosity and hospitality.

I was sent an email that said my card payment was not verified. When I spoke to an agent , he said my card was not verified and the flight I thought I had to booked was no longer available so I booked another flight on another airline(United). Later I got flight updates , etc., concerning my supposed first flight. So if I was charged for this flight on British Airways/American airlines, I need a refund.

Generally very good. I think their service is better than some other big names I used to travel with. Their food variety is second to none - and you can place order beforehand. Their seating design is a bit awkward for service, I'd say. Flight attendants must be tall enough - long legs and arms - to reach the window seat passenger while crossing over the isle passenger. Also appreciated the variety on entertainment.

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

Los Angeles to London. 25th of April 2026. Business class. I was flying backwards with a complete stranger snoring next to me. In Business class. Males and females, strangers lying next to each other. Seats were backwards. I paid for comfort. I got dizziness and stress.

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