Find cheap flights to South Africa

Round-trip
1 adult
Economy
0 bags
Sat 7/1
Sat 7/8

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Latest South Africa Flight Deals

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

MOST POPULARJohannesburg
2+ stops from $812
Cape Town
1 stop from $915
1 stop from $919
Port Elizabeth
2+ stops from $1,229
George
2+ stops from $1,932

Good to know

Low season

April

High season

December

Cheapest flight

$434

Good deal round-trip

$1,313

Good deal one-way

$1,061
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 4% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 12% increase in price.
Flight from New York John F Kennedy Airport to OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg
or less
or less

Top tips for finding cheap flights to South Africa

  • Looking for cheap airfare to South Africa? 25% of our users found tickets to South Africa for the following prices or less: From Washington, D.C. Dulles Intl $1,121 one-way - $1,347 round-trip, from Newark $1,091 one-way - $1,379 round-trip
  • Book at least 4 weeks before departure in order to get a below-average price.
  • High season is considered to be May, June and July. The cheapest month to fly from the United States is April.
  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest South Africa flight deals.
  • South Africa has three main international airports spread through its three major cities — Johannesburg's Oliver Tambo Airport (JNB), Cape Town's Airport (CPT), and Durban's King Shaka Airport (DUR). CPT is the metropolitan area's main gateway, JNB has good accessibility and connectivity, and DUR is the best regional airport in South Africa.
  • Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg is South Africa's primary hub, the busiest in the continent and the center for South African Airways. If you are flying into South Africa from the U.S., consider landing in JNB, as it serves six continents globally.
  • Johannesburg is South Africa's gateway and an entry point for direct flights from the U.S. All direct flights from the U.S. land in Johannesburg from Atlanta (ATL), New York (JFK), and Washington, D.C. (IAD). The destination airport is JNB.
  • If you are flying to Oliver Tambo Airport, the airport is easy to maneuver. JNB consists of two terminals, A and B, with a central terminal building handling luggage and check-in connecting the two terminals. You can walk to either of the terminals.
  • If you are visiting the metropolitan area of South Africa, fly into Cape Town Airport, which offers a hassle-free travel experience. The airport is the only one in the metro area offering scheduled passenger services.
  • 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.

FAQs - booking South Africa flights

Top 5 airlines flying to South Africa

Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
8.3
Qatar AirwaysOverall score based on 10920 reviews
83boarding
86crew
83entertainment
83overall
82comfort
80food
Airline reviews
Cons: "Food is served in heated plastic containers. I would request Qatar airways not heat the food in the plastic container."
Read more about Qatar Airways
Cons: "Food is served in heated plastic containers. I would request Qatar airways not heat the food in the plastic container."
Pros: "Crew was terrific. Great service. New aircraft are comfortable too."
Cons: "Food. Meals are of poor quality. Bland in taste and rubbery texture."
Cons: "They do not understand the word priority at Doha airport. Business class passengers boarded last."
Pros: "Excellent service on both flights. Truly a 5 star experience. Well done Qatar Airways."
Cons: "Nothing. Keep up the good work"
Pros: "Staff are very polite and helpful (ground staff and in the air)."
Cons: "The food was hit and miss. Some of it was good and some of it used ketchup as a sauce. The economy seats have been stripped down to budget airline level padding and the rows seem have been been jammed in a little closer."
Pros: "Yes overall probably the best flight to Chennai from DC"
Pros: "Justfly stoled my money as i booked for seat and paid 30$ And the seat didnt booked I want my money to be returned"
Pros: "The flight attendants were fantastic. They paid attention to every detail and anticipated requests. Always had a smile on their faces."
Cons: "The service and the aircraft with QSuites were superb."
Pros: "The service was great! I slept almost the whole way in economy and was very comfortable!"
Cons: "It was delayed 3hrs but no regret from staff. Doha to staff very bad and arrogant"

Poor communication: Flight come directly to kigali , didn’t come via mumbasa. Favouring to Rwandan passenger to move from economic to bussiness class after flight depart. Where they don’t asked other older passenger who need more comfort. Rude staff : chekin airport at Mumbai. Talking in local language (marathi) while serving and no sorry no thank you attitude.

Pros: "Seat reclining was good. Fleece blankets were warm"
Cons: "Blankets had a really bad smell Food options were very limited - even bread was eggless"
Pros: "Helpful friendly crew, reasonable ticket prices."
Cons: "Luggage was delayed by 24 hours, customer service desk in Johannesburg EXTREMELY helpful, in Kigali they were clueless. Transit area very crowded, humid and stuffy."
Pros: "I was happy to avail of Wifi in the sky."
Cons: "No entertainment! For an major international flight, one expects some seatback entertainment"
Pros: "Crew members are extremely polite and friendly. Flight was delayed leaving Kigali captain spoke to each passenger and apologise - great professionalism."
Cons: "Entertainment was limited."
Pros: "Took the newly opened route between Cape Town and Harare. Was a great experience. Thanks to RwandAir it is easier and cheaper to fly directly between these African cities. Lots of potential on the route. RwandAir really opening up business and leisure opportunities much needed in these areas. Nice to avoid Tambo airport."
Cons: "Both flights were slightly delayed (which happens), information about the delay could be better at Harare airport. But no biggy."
Pros: "The Flight attendants are all awesome and undesrtanding...and the open wifi ate Kigali airport was great."
Cons: "No vegetarian option Bad boarding procedures, no one gets direction and it was very slow"
Cons: "THERE WAS MEAT INSIDE MY "VEGETARIAN" MEAL!!! This is totally unacceptable!"
Pros: "The crew members are very polite and professional"
Cons: "The food is not very nice, the drink is don’t taste so great either . The airline seats are too small"
Pros: "The flight from EWR to MSP was extremely quiet. No loud engine noises."
Cons: "We were vert disappointed at the Newark Airport - the Delta Club was closed and there had been no notification prior to arriving at the airport. I certainly missed that early morning coffee."
Pros: "Crew was amazing before and after the flight! Delta really showed if the world isn’t doing well, that their staff will keep those problems outside the plane and keep everyone calm and safe. Thank you Delta!"
Cons: "Absolutely nothing. I’m going to join the miles points with Delta."
Pros: "Not one of my good experiences with Delta. Two hours delay in the flight"
Cons: "Information on the flight delay as communication was. at least very poor. Also A 220 was ok but First Class was so so"
Pros: "The crew was very attentive and had great personality. They anticipated any needs we had."
Cons: "Really packed together seats...more room. Crew spoke very loudly on plane...jarring"
Pros: "Horrible delay with unruly customers on the plane. But the flight attendants did great handling them"
Cons: "sat on the tarmac for 3 hours because the pilot was late."
Cons: "They were delayed. They wouldn't let us keep our checked sized bags which slowed us down even more. Our next flight left without us while we were waiting for a gate to open so we could get off the plane. There were no more flights so we had to fly to an alternate city and rent a car to get home."
Cons: "An officious crew who said they had a 'seat belt detector' to tell if people's seatbelts were fastened. A late flight... with lies about the reason for the delay."
Pros: "The plane was nice"
Cons: "I’m still sitting in Minneapolis so I would have liked to be at my destination. And I had to pay for the overnight accommodations."
Pros: "No sops followed"
Cons: "Food is really bad and they never even bother checking with any one same burger which is cold dry"
Cons: "everything sucked time bery bad servive starfed on flight nonacolok was sergvedngypu ilt was really disappoinyling includigbymkthrvlounhr aothee airlione"
Pros: "The crew was great and friendly"
Cons: "How can you ran out of wine on a flight"
Pros: "i like the food and movie choices."
Cons: "Crew was little bit rude. They didn’t help me to find the spot for my carry on luggage."
Cons: "We were late, no TV screens, bad food and I can go on and on"
Pros: "Another fantastic trip with Turkish Airlines. Everything from their membership in Star Alliance, to their awesome customer service, to their fantastic tasting food."
Pros: "Food was great! Crew was excellent and I loved entertainment choices!"
Pros: "The staff member who checked me in was very friendly"
Cons: "the inflight staff needs to improve their behaviour in dealing with passengers. Some were quite rude. The aircraft seats were extremely cramped. The food selection was quite poor."
Cons: "Seats are very comfortable! Very nice flight, crew, entertainment screens are large,"
Pros: "Everything...the food was delicious, the staff was gracious and always went the extra mile."
Cons: "I had paid for an upgrade to sit in the front of the cabin with extra legroom (row 14A). When I boarded a man sat it my seat. He had not paid for the upgrade, but the crew let him stay in my seat. I had asked him to social distance but he continued to sit right behind me bo matter which seat I moved to. He argued with the crew until they gave up and let him stay. They did not check his boarding pass or ask him to move to his assigned seat I found a different seat away from him but I don’t see the point in paying for extra legroom when the crew let’s people who haven’t paid for it sit it those seats. I felt harassed by the man and was very uncomfortable the whole flight. I am considering my next step, I think I should at least receive a refund for the upgrade I paid for."
Cons: "KLM lost my suitcase and did not deliver it until three days later... They refused to compensate me for having delivered the bag with broken articles inside (A pair of Rayban Wayfarers!)"
Cons: "The airline lost my suitcase and deliver it only 72 hours later... They refused to give me proper compensation for items that were broken..."
Pros: "Crew is excellent, polite and personal!"
Cons: "Plane is super old and outdated. Comfort seat is not, comfortable, very tight. TV screen is not good quality, with the old controls on a handset. No touch, no 1/8 inch audio jack (it has the old 3 holes one). Wifi for streaming freezes every other second. Just make a face lift to the plane, everything else is good."
Cons: "Klm is the best, even on a 40min they served small breakfast."
Cons: "When its rain we shouldn’t walk to the air plain"
Pros: "Staff were professional and polite."
Cons: "Despite zone boarding, boarding and disembarkation were very slow. Passengers like me with flight connections were very anxious regarding missing these."
Pros: "Flight and the crew!"
Cons: "Staff at the airport pushing you to upgrade to first class but not making it clear only the first trip from Athens to Amsterdam which the first class uses same uncomfortable seats as the economy to pay extra 130 euros ridiculous airfrance stuff! I should have flown all the way to NYC first class!!!"
Pros: "the crew was wonderful, we got a nice Wrap and water, wine or coffee for free, not all airlines serve it anymore, we were on time and I got whatsapp message with updates of the flight"
Cons: "The flight from Manchester to Amsterdam has been delayed which led insufficient time for me to transfer to HK"

Book Cheap South Africa Plane Tickets

Recent round-trip flight deals

10/2Mon
2 stopsEthiopian Air
23h 55mJFK-JNB
10/15Sun
2 stopsEthiopian Air
27h 00mJNB-JFK
$812
10/7Sat
1 stopKenya Airways
35h 55mJFK-JNB
11/11Sat
1 stopKenya Airways
20h 25mJNB-JFK
$814
11/4Sat
1 stopKenya Airways
19h 15mJFK-JNB
11/17Fri
1 stopKenya Airways
25h 25mJNB-JFK
$815
10/13Fri
1 stopEthiopian Air
20h 15mATL-JNB
10/24Tue
2 stopsEthiopian Air
24h 30mJNB-ATL
$821
10/2Mon
2 stopsEthiopian Air
23h 55mJFK-JNB
10/10Tue
2 stopsEthiopian Air
27h 00mJNB-JFK
$827
9/24Sun
2 stopsEthiopian Air
23h 55mJFK-JNB
10/29Sun
2 stopsEthiopian Air
26h 30mJNB-JFK
$828
11/3Fri
1 stopKenya Airways
32h 40mJFK-JNB
11/17Fri
1 stopKenya Airways
25h 25mJNB-JFK
$839
10/8Sun
1 stopKenya Airways
28h 30mJFK-JNB
10/17Tue
1 stopKenya Airways
25h 25mJNB-JFK
$840
10/3Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
36h 45mIAD-CPT
10/17Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
32h 15mCPT-IAD
$919
9/12Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
36h 45mIAD-CPT
9/19Tue
1 stopTurkish Airlines
25h 05mCPT-IAD
$932
9/11Mon
1 stopTurkish Airlines
30h 40mIAD-CPT
9/20Wed
1 stopTurkish Airlines
25h 05mCPT-IAD
$933
10/1Sun
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
27h 00mJFK-CPT
10/13Fri
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
28h 15mCPT-JFK
$994
11/22Wed
1 stopMultiple Airlines
24h 55mJFK-CPT
11/29Wed
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
40h 20mCPT-JFK
$1,002
10/28Sat
1 stopBritish Airways
31h 10mJFK-CPT
11/4Sat
1 stopBritish Airways
29h 00mCPT-JFK
$1,015
11/6Mon
1 stopBritish Airways
31h 05mJFK-CPT
11/19Sun
1 stopBritish Airways
31h 50mCPT-JFK
$1,044
11/6Mon
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
40h 40mJFK-CPT
11/13Mon
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
33h 32mCPT-JFK
$1,077
11/6Mon
2 stopsAmerican Airlines
40h 40mJFK-CPT
11/13Mon
1 stopAmerican Airlines
26h 35mCPT-JFK
$1,086
10/27Fri
nonstopUnited Airlines
14h 45mEWR-CPT
11/11Sat
nonstopUnited Airlines
15h 55mCPT-EWR
$1,196
11/6Mon
1 stopDelta
23h 01mEWR-CPT
11/12Sun
1 stopDelta
21h 35mCPT-EWR
$1,228
10/8Sun
2 stopsQatar Airways
33h 35mLGA-CPT
11/5Sun
2 stopsQatar Airways
33h 05mCPT-LGA
$1,503

Search by stops

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Recent one-way flight deals

10/7Sat
1 stopKenya Airways
35h 55mJFK-JNB
$434
9/30Sat
1 stopKenya Airways
35h 55mJFK-JNB
$479
10/1Sun
1 stopKenya Airways
20h 05mJFK-JNB
$513
8/22Tue
1 stopKenya Airways
20h 05mJFK-JNB
$545
11/9Thu
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
45h 35mATL-JNB
$557
9/11Mon
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
36h 45mJFK-CPT
$582
10/9Mon
2 stopsMultiple Airlines
28h 25mJFK-JNB
$583
9/30Sat
1 stopEgypt Air
36h 10mEWR-JNB
$618
8/31Thu
3 stopsRwandAir
59h 55mIAD-CPT
$655
8/7Mon
3 stopsRwandAir
45h 45mIAD-CPT
$657
6/19Mon
1 stopEtihad Airways
27h 25mJFK-JNB
$673
8/31Thu
1 stopQatar Airways
31h 50mIAD-CPT
$678
8/18Fri
1 stopBritish Airways
21h 10mEWR-CPT
$713
8/27Sun
2 stopsEthiopian Air
23h 55mJFK-JNB
$714
8/26Sat
1 stopTurkish Airlines
33h 55mJFK-CPT
$734
8/11Fri
nonstopLufthansa
15h 00mEWR-JNB
$766
11/2Thu
1 stopUnited Airlines
17h 20mLGA-CPT
$1,056
10/28Sat
1 stopDelta
21h 15mLGA-CPT
$1,066
8/27Sun
1 stopAeromexico
20h 00mLGA-JNB
$1,085
7/5Wed
2 stopsKLM
22h 20mLGA-JNB
$1,131

Search by stops

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Search by price

Flights to South Africa

Return flight deals:

South Africa - United States

Cabin classes:

$2,776
$4,241
$2,498
$1,198

Browse origins:

$1,383
$2,011
$1,653
$1,547
$1,265
$3,022
$1,182
$1,585
$1,951
$1,241
$1,140
$944
$1,525
$1,284
$1,044
$2,157
$1,234
$1,036
$1,044
$1,483
$1,115
$1,414
$1,144
$1,966
$1,218
$1,257
$1,364
$3,716
$1,812
$1,412
$1,243
$1,552
$1,215
$1,027
$4,836
$1,216
$1,943
$1,842
$1,527
$1,272
$1,215
$1,613
$1,201
$1,857
$1,172
$6,992
$1,441
$1,519
$1,738
$1,223
$982
$1,283
$1,318
$1,425
$1,880
$2,256
$1,954
$1,044
$2,683
$1,036
$1,202
$1,270
$1,039
$1,048
$1,382
$2,124
$2,056
$1,148
$1,172
$1,470
$1,012
$1,284
$1,333
$1,531
$1,567
$1,211
$1,140
$1,151
$2,572
$1,093
$1,199
$1,666
$1,145
$2,013
$1,019
$1,257
$1,006
$7,930
$1,633
$1,412
$1,809
$1,322
$1,896
View more