Can I use United miles on South African Airways?

Yes! You can use your United Airlines miles to fly South African Airways to South Africa.

What is the best airline to fly to Africa?

ANA offers the cheapest economy and business class award flights to South Africa. You’ll want to use Alaska miles to fly the cheapest first class flight to South Africa.

Will American Airlines fly to Africa?

American Airlines currently flies nonstop to Morocco but does not offer direct flights to South Africa.

Where do you fly into South Africa?

The 2 major airports in South Africa are Johannesburg (JNB) and Cape Town (CPT).

The Best Ways To Fly to South Africa With Points and Miles [2023]

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.

Table of contents

Best Programs To Use To Book Flights
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

Best Programs To Use To Book Flights
Final Thoughts

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.

Cabin Class	Aeroplan Points Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	54,100	$55+
Premium Economy	85,000	$55+
Business	100,000	$55+

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:

Log in to your Aeroplan account.
Search for the flights you’d like.
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

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 Business Class Flat-Bed — Alaska Airlines miles are great to use to fly Cathay Pacific business class. Image Credit: Greg Stone

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.

Cabin Class	Cathay Pacific Miles Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	50,000	$244+
Premium Economy	60,000	$244+
Business	70,000	$244+
First	80,000	$244+

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:

Search for flights on American Airlines, British Airways, and Qantas.
Call Alaska Airlines at 800-252-7522 to confirm award availability.
Book the flight over the phone.
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

Qatar QSuites 11F 11E Boeing 777 — Use your American miles to fly Qatar’s business class Qsuites. Image Credit: Alex Miller

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.

Cabin Class	Oneworld Airlines Miles Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	40,000	$37+
Premium Economy	65,000	$37+
Business	75,000	$37+
First	120,000	$37+

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:

Search for flights on American Airlines.
Book the flight online.
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

Fly Ethiopian business class using ANA miles. Image Credit: Ethiopian Airlines

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.

Cabin Class	Star Alliance Miles Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	65,000	$377+
Business	104,000	$377+
First	195,000	$377+

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:

Search for flights on United.
Confirm the same availability on ANA.
Book the flight online.
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

Turkish Airlines Boeing 787 9 Business Class Middle Aisle Seats — Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-9 business class middle aisle seats. Image Credit: Greg Stone

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.

Cabin Class	Star Alliance Miles Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	40,000	$188+
Business	60,000	$188+
First	80,000	$188+

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:

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

Cabin Class	Star Alliance Miles Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	40,000	$38+
Business	78,000	$38+
First	105,000	$38+

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:

Search for Star Alliance flights on United.
Confirm the same award availability on LifeMiles.com.
Book the flight online.
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

Kenya Airways business class — Use Korean Air miles to fly to South Africa on Kenya Airways in business class. Image Credit: Kenya Airways

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.

Cabin Class	SkyTeam Airline Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	40,000	$425+
Business	60,000	$425+

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:

Search for flights on Air France, Delta, or KLM.
Confirm the same award availability on Korean Air.
Book the award flight online.
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

United Polaris seat on Boeing 787 9 Dreamliner — Use United miles to fly to Polaris class to South Africa. Image Credit: Chris Hassan

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.

Cabin Class	United Airlines Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	40,000	$75+
Business	70,000	$75+

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:

Search for the flight on United.
Book the flight online.
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

Delta economy class — Flying Delta in economy is a fantastic way to save big on miles while flying comfortably. Image Credit: Delta

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.

Cabin Class	Delta Cost	Taxes and Fees
Economy	45,000	$5.60+
Business	65,000 (estimate due to lack of availability)	$5.60+

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:

Search for Delta flights on Virgin Atlantic.
Book the Delta flight online.
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, Asiana Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card and Asiana Visa® Business 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.

For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

6 comments

Marty May 9, 2021
Trying to get to Cape Town from the NY area end of July or August for about 10 days. I have AA miles, Chase UR, and Marriott rewards.
In searching AA, I see it’s significantly cheaper to go to Johannesburg than Cape Town and trying to figure if it’s easier to fly to Johannesburg and then fly separately to Cape Town once there?
I’m trying to find the best value, but, the redemptions always confuse me. Trying not to fly through Europe, either.
I’d rather burn the AA miles first but don’t want to “overpay” just because I want to get rid of them.
Any better options from NY? Guessing business class due to the length of the flight.
Thx!!
- Jarrod West May 21, 2021
  Hi Marty,
  Depending on how many AA miles you have, I would opt to fly the Qatar QSuites from NYC to Capetown. If you can find Saver availability on the American Airlines website, the ticket would cost 75k miles each way, and you would have a layover in Doha – allowing you to avoid flying through Europe.
Chaim Karp November 5, 2021
Trying to book travel on SAA from Accra to CPT using my united miles, is this possible?
SAA flights are not showing on Uniteds’ booking site, and when I called, the agent wasnt very knowledgable
Any tips would be great!
- Stephen Au November 11, 2021
  Flying from Accra to Cape Town nonstop isn’t possible, whether you’re using points or cash. This is true at least for now, as of November 2021.
  If you’re interested in looking for Accra to Cape Town via Johannesburg on SAA, you need to find availability on each segment first. Then, double-check on United’s website. If it doesn’t show up, try checking Aeroplan’s website. You can also feed the United agent over the phone all of the flight details to make it as easy as possible.
J February 3, 2023
I’m trying to get from the west coast (ideally SeaTac or yvr, but lax is ok) to joberg or Cape Town in Delta One in early july. I have 840,000 miles. Any advice?
- Jarrod West February 6, 2023
  Hi J,
  My advice is to try and be as flexible as possible with when you fly for the best chance of locating award space. I also highly recommend using a tool like Point.me to help you quickly locate award space across multiple dates.

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