The Best Ways To Fly to South Africa With Points and Miles

Wine, beaches, Table Top Mountain, game reserves, and safaris are some of the things that come to mind when you think of South Africa. Located at the southernmost point of the African continent, South Africa is a country with so much to do and see.

The country is served by 2 major airports: O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg (JNB) and Cape Town International (CPT). Most nonstop flight options fly to Johannesburg, though United does operate a single flight from Newark (EWR) to Cape Town (CPT) that was launched in late 2019.

For those of you unable to find a nonstop, you’ll likely route through Europe or another African airport from the U.S.

Best Programs To Use To Book Flights

Even though South Africa is far from the U.S., you still have several flight options in both airports. Oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance partner airlines all offer flights between the U.S. and South Africa — great news for those of us who have flexibility in our travel plans.

The award pricing in this article is calculated one-way. Most programs will allow you to book one-way tickets, but both ANA and Korean Air require round-trip award flight bookings.

With that behind us, let’s figure out how best to fly between the U.S. and South Africa!

Air Canada Aeroplan

Starting off our list of award programs to use to book award flights to South Africa is Air Canada’s Aeroplan. The program is best known for its award pricing for flights between the U.S. and Europe. What you may not have considered is using Aeroplan to fly to South Africa.

As a Star Alliance partner, Air Canada has access to flights from United, Lufthansa, SWISS Air, and Ethiopian Airlines, among others. Be aware that Aeroplan has a variable rate for redemptions, so you’ll find different pricing based on demand.

Aeroplan has partnerships with 3 transferable point programs, making it easy to earn Aeroplan points with American Express, Capital One, and Marriott Bonvoy. In addition to these partnerships, Aeroplan has a co-branded credit card, the TD Aeroplan™ Visa Signature^® Credit Card, that earns airline points directly with your credit card spend.

Hot Tip: You can use Aeroplan’s free family pooling feature to gather together all of your family’s points, which can allow you to quickly earn enough points for a redemption.

Once you have enough Air Canada Aeroplan points to book an award flight, considering flying on one of these example routes:

• Chicago (ORD) – Addis Ababa (ADD) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 100,000 points in Ethiopian Airlines business class
• New York (EWR) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 100,000 points in United Polaris

Follow these steps below to help with your award flight booking process:

1. Log in to your Aeroplan account.
2. Search for the flights you’d like.
3. Book and pay the taxes and fees associated with your ticket.

For those of you wanting to use transferable points, American Express Membership Rewards points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio, Capital One miles transfer at a 1:1 ratio, and Marriott Bonvoy point transfers can take up to 5 days at a 3:1 ratio. With every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points that you transfer, you’ll receive a 5,000-point bonus.

If you’re looking to earn Capital One miles, here are the credit cards we recommend you check out:

Recommended Capital One Cards (Personal)

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Long a fan-favorite in the miles and points world, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is a program that offers value for flights between the U.S. and South Africa. Alaska Airlines is well-known for the ability to book a stopover, not only on its flights but its partner airline flights as well.

Outside of Alaska Airlines miles being challenging to earn, the 2 downsides with this specific redemption are that you have to call Alaska Airlines to book the flight and Alaska Airlines may not see the same award space that you might find on American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, and Qantas.

You can also opt to use your Alaska Airlines miles to fly to Africa with British Airways and Emirates, though British Airways levies high surcharges and Emirates is extremely expensive.

Hot Tip: Familiarize yourself with American Airlines, British Airways, and Qantas search engines as you’ll need them to search for Cathay Pacific award flights. We’ve covered this in our guide on searching for Oneworld award availability. 

Once you have enough Alaska Airlines miles to book a Cathay Pacific award flight, considering flying on one of these example routes:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Hong Kong (HKG) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 75,000 Alaska miles in Cathay Pacific business class
• New York (JFK) – Hong Kong (HKG) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 80,000 Alaska miles in Cathay Pacific first class

Follow these steps below to help with your award flight booking process:

1. Search for flights on American Airlines, British Airways, and Qantas.
2. Call Alaska Airlines at 800-252-7522 to confirm award availability.
3. Book the flight over the phone.
4. Pay the taxes and fees, and be sure to ask them to waive the phone booking fee since you can’t find these flights online.

Earning Alaska Airlines Miles

It’s difficult to earn Alaska Airlines miles because the program has only 1 transferable point program partnership with Marriott Bonvoy and its co-branded card, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature^® Credit Card, does not come with big welcome offers.

If you do have Marriott Bonvoy points, the point transfers to Alaska Airlines take 4 days at a 3:1 ratio. Also, you’ll receive a 5,000-mile bonus with every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points that you transfer to Alaska.

Recommended Marriott Bonvoy Cards 

Bottom Line: It’s hard to beat the award pricing offered by Alaska Airlines to fly Cathay Pacific economy, business, and first class flights to South Africa. 

American Airlines AAdvantage

A program familiar to many U.S. travelers is American Airlines AAdvantage. For this redemption, you’ll want to focus on using AAdvantage miles to fly Oneworld partner airline economy and business class flights. First class isn’t as competitive, so we recommend that you look elsewhere to book.

The primary downside with these flights is that you’ll likely be routed through Europe. Oneworld doesn’t offer nonstop flights between the U.S. and Africa, so your travel will be longer compared to Star Alliance and SkyTeam partner airline flights.

Hot Tip: Oneworld partner flights to Africa can only be booked transatlantic. American Airlines has several rules when flying between regions, so we recommend researching all of your options before transferring any points. 

If you’re ready to book a flight to South Africa, here are a couple of example flights to get the ideas flowing:

• Dallas (DFW) – Doha (DOH) – Cape Town (CPT) for 75,000 American miles in Qatar business class
• New York (JFK) – Doha (DOH) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 40,000 American miles in Qatar economy class

Booking award flights with AAdvantage miles is easy by following these steps:

1. Search for flights on American Airlines.
2. Book the flight online.
3. Pay the taxes and fees.

Earning American Airlines Miles

It’s easy to earn American Airlines miles because the airline has a partnership with Marriott Bonvoy and offers several co-branded credit cards. With co-branded credit cards, you’ll earn American miles directly with your spending.

Otherwise, you can opt to transfer Bilt Rewards to AAdvantage miles at a 1:1 ratio.

Marriott Bonvoy point transfers take 2 days at a 3:1 ratio.

Bottom Line: The American Airlines AAdvantage program doesn’t have a ton of sweet spots, however, using American miles to fly Qatar business class may be one of them. 

ANA Mileage Club

The second Star Alliance program to join this list is ANA Mileage Club. ANA is best known for its competitive award prices when flying its flights to Japan. What you may not have known is that using ANA miles to book partner flights to South Africa can be a good value.

The main drawback of using ANA miles to book partner airline flights is that the flights must be booked round-trip. If you’re looking for maximum flexibility, other Star Alliance partners like Aeroplan and United may make more sense.

Hot Tip: Award pricing for Star Alliance economy and business class flights to South Africa is where ANA shines. The program offers the cheapest economy and business class flights that you can book on this list. 

Here are a couple of Star Alliance partner flight ideas for those of you who are ready to book a flight Remember, these are round-trip prices:

• Newark (EWR) – Zurich (ZRH) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 65,000 ANA miles in SWISS economy class
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Addis Ababa (ADD) – Cape Town (CPT) for 104,000 ANA miles in Ethiopian business class

With the required number of ANA miles in your account, follow these steps to book your next award flight:

1. Search for flights on United.
2. Confirm the same availability on ANA.
3. Book the flight online.
4. Pay the taxes and fees.

Earning ANA Miles

Earning ANA miles should not be an issue because ANA partners with both American Express and Marriott Bonvoy. When you earn points in these programs, the points can be transferred directly to ANA. Unfortunately, ANA doesn’t offer a credit card for the U.S. market, so you’ll want to focus on earning Amex and Marriott Bonvoy points.

Amex point transfers take 2 to 3 days at a 1:1 ratio and Marriott Bonvoy point transfers take 7 days at a 3:1 ratio. With that said, we recommend applying for these Amex credit cards first:

Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)

Business owner? See our list of the best Amex business credit cards.

Bottom Line: Star Alliance airline partners in this list that offer one-way award flight options include Aeroplan, Avianca, and United. 

Asiana Airlines Asiana Club

Another Star Alliance program to keep your eye on, and one that often gets overlooked, is Asiana Airlines Asiana Club. For economy, business, and first class flights, Asiana Airlines offers some of the most competitive award prices that you’ll find on this list.

What can be frustrating with Asiana Airlines is that partner award flights require a phone call to book. The Asiana Airlines website doesn’t allow you to search or book these flights online.

Hot Tip: United will be the best website to use to search for Star Alliance partner airline flights. You may also find that Aeroplan can be helpful to use to search for these flights as well.

When you’ve decided to make the trip to South Africa, consider booking these flights to get you there:

• Chicago (ORD) – Zurich (ZRH) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 40,000 Asiana miles in SWISS economy class
• Houston (IAH) – Istanbul (IST) – Cape Town (CPT) for 60,000 Asiana miles in Turkish Airlines business class

To make the booking process easier with Asiana Airlines, use these steps when you’re ready to book a flight:

1. Search for Star Alliance partner flights on United.
2. Call Asiana Airlines at 800-227-4262 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. PST Monday to Friday.
3. Book the flight over the phone.
4. Pay the taxes and fees over the phone.

Earning Asiana Airlines Miles

It’ll be challenging to earn Asiana Airlines miles as the airline only partners with Marriott Bonvoy.

For those of you with Marriott Bonvoy points, the point transfer takes 4 days at a 3:1 ratio. Separately, you’ll receive a 5,000-mile bonus with every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points that you transfer.

Bottom Line: Asiana Airlines has competitive award prices for flights to South Africa. The challenge that you’ll have is earning enough Asiana miles to book these flights. 

Avianca LifeMiles

A fourth Star Alliance program to check out is Avianca LifeMiles. Avianca is known for the ability to book Star Alliance flights without fuel surcharges. This is great news for flights to South Africa as you can fly Lufthansa with very few dollars out of pocket.

For these flights, Avianca business and first class pricing are on the high end, however, your taxes and fees will be lower, offsetting the additional miles you’ll spend.

The main downside with Avianca is that award availability shown on LifeMiles.com will not match what you find on United and Aeroplan. On top of that, calling Avianca is not a pleasant experience, so you’ll want to focus on booking these flights online.

Hot Tip: Lufthansa releases first class award space within 2 weeks of the departure date. If you’re looking to fly Lufthansa first class, you’ll need to be flexible on your travel dates. 

Examples of flights that you can book to South Africa include:

• Newark (EWR) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 78,000 Avianca miles in Lufthansa business class
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 105,000 Avianca miles in Lufthansa first class

When you’re ready to book a flight using Avianca miles, below are the steps that will help with the process:

1. Search for Star Alliance flights on United.
2. Confirm the same award availability on LifeMiles.com.
3. Book the flight online.
4. Pay the taxes and fees, including the $25 partner award fee.

Earning Avianca LifeMiles

Earning Avianca LifeMiles is easy because the airline has partnerships with American Express, Capital One, Citi, and Marriott Bonvoy. Also, Avianca has 2 co-branded credit cards that earn Avianca LifeMiles with your spending.

If you have Amex, Capital One, Citi, and/or Marriott Bonvoy points, the transfer times and transfer ratios are as follows: Amex points, Capital One miles, and Citi ThankYou Points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio and Marriott Bonvoy point transfers take 24 hours at a 3:1 ratio.

With that said, we recommend the following Citi credit card:

Bottom Line: Avianca is one of the best programs to use to book premium cabin award flights on airlines like Lufthansa that have high fuel surcharges. 

Korean Air SKYPASS

Korean Air SKYPASS is the 1 SkyTeam partner to make this list. The program has competitive award pricing for SkyTeam partner airline flights, particularly for those of you who want to fly economy and business class to South Africa.

2 drawbacks come to mind when using Korean Air miles: Korean Air passes on fuel surcharges, and it’s hard to earn Korean Air miles.

Hot Tip: The SKYPASS program uses region-based charts. This means that it’ll cost the same number of miles to fly from any U.S. city to South Africa on a SkyTeam partner airline. 

When you’ve accumulated enough Korean Air miles for a flight, consider booking one of these options:

• Atlanta (ATL) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 40,000 Korean Air miles in Delta economy class
• New York (JFK) – Nairobi (NBO) – Cape Town (CPT) for 60,000 Korean Air miles in Kenya Airways business class

The process to book SkyTeam flights with Korean Air miles is as follows:

1. Search for flights on Air France, Delta, or KLM.
2. Confirm the same award availability on Korean Air.
3. Book the award flight online.
4. Pay the taxes and fees.

Earning Korean Air Miles

Korean Air co-branded credit cards and Marriott Bonvoy will be the combination you’ll need to earn Korean Air miles. The spend that you put on Korean Air credit cards will directly earn Korean Air miles.

When you have Marriott Bonvoy points, the point transfer time takes 2 days at a 3:1 ratio.

Bottom Line: Korean Air economy and business class pricing to South Africa are some of the lowest you’ll find in this list. To confirm that Korean Air has the lowest SkyTeam award prices, we recommend checking the pricing offered on Air France, Delta, and KLM. 

United Airlines MileagePlus

The fifth Star Alliance program to make our list is United Airlines MileagePlus. Many U.S. travelers are familiar with United but you may not have thought to use United miles to fly to South Africa.

Economy and business class pricing aren’t the cheapest you’ll find, however, you won’t be on the hook for fuel surcharges, similar to Avianca.

One downside with United is that the program uses dynamic award pricing for its own flights. This means the award cost of a United flight will be tied to the cash cost of the flight. Partner airline flights like Lufthansa currently utilize an award chart, though United charges more for partner awards than flights on its own metal.

Examples of Star Alliance flights that you can book with United Airlines miles include:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – New York City (EWR) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 70,000 United miles in United’s Polaris business class
• San Francisco (SFO) – Istanbul (IST) – Cape Town (CPT) for 77,000 United miles in Turkish Airlines economy class

When you’re ready to book a flight, follow these steps to help with the process:

1. Search for the flight on United.
2. Book the flight online.
3. Pay the taxes and fees online.

Earning United Airlines Miles

It’s easy to earn United Airlines miles because the airline has partnerships with Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. Also, United offers several co-branded credit cards that earn miles directly with your spending.

For those of you with Chase points, the points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy point transfers take 2 days at a 3:1.1 ratio. Also, you’ll receive 5,000 bonus miles with every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Business owner? See our list of the best Chase business credit cards.

Bottom Line: Avianca and United are Star Alliance programs to consider if you’re looking to reduce the amount of taxes and fees that you’ll need to pay. 

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Our last airline program, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, is not in an airline alliance. Instead, Virgin Atlantic has partnerships with individual airlines like Delta, Air France, and KLM.

The drawback with Virgin Atlantic is that its website can be challenging to use. We recommend familiarizing yourself with how to use the search engine. That way the booking process will be familiar when you’re ready to book a flight.

Hot Tip: Virgin Atlantic charges additional Virgin Points for connecting flights. The award prices shown in the charts above assume nonstop flights between the U.S. and South Africa. 

If your Virgin Points are already in your Virgin Atlantic account, here is an example flight to South Africa:

• Atlanta (ATL) – Johannesburg (JNB) for 45,000 Virgin Points in Delta economy class

Use the steps below to help yourself when booking Delta flights:

1. Search for Delta flights on Virgin Atlantic.
2. Book the Delta flight online.
3. Pay the taxes and fees online.

Earning Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic has partnerships with American Express, Chase, Citi, and Marriott Bonvoy, making it easy to earn Virgin Points. The airline also offers a co-branded credit card for the U.S. market that earns Virgin Points with your spending.

You’ll want to keep these transfer times and ratios in mind if you have transferable points: Amex point transfers take 1 to 2 days at a 1:1 ratio, Chase points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio, Citi point transfers take 2 days a 1:1 ratio, and Marriott Bonvoy point transfers take 1 day at a 3:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy point transfers of 60,000 points receive a 5,000-point bonus.

Bottom Line: When you need to book Delta flights, we recommend Virgin Atlantic as one of the first places to go to book award flights. 

Final Thoughts

South Africa is a country that you’ll see on many travel lists. What’s likely not covered in those lists is how best to use miles and points to get there. Hopefully, after reading this article, you’ll be one step ahead of the curve.

All in all, we recommend earning transferable American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, and Marriott Bonvoy points. That way, when an award program devaluation occurs, you can simply look to other award programs to book flights instead.

The information regarding the TD Aeroplan™ Visa Signature^® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

The information regarding the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature^® credit card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Bold^® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless^® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

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