w351

What airline do you recommend from USA to South Africa? I tried looking on here but didn't see anything that matched exactly. Any special perks to certain ones?


Thanks!

sdb2

From where in the US?

sandi

Question is much like 'how long is a piece of string.'
Besides from where in the US, 'matched exactly' means what?

There are flights on SAA out of ATL and believe JFK, other carriers via Europe connecting to JNB.

See a search engine as Kayak.com for schedules, carriers, fares.

w351

From Chicago. sandi, I have looked up flights already, am just wondering if there are any perks to flying KLM vs. SAA, etc. in terms of leg room, food, entertainment, comfort, things like that.

sdb2

KLM is great and I try to use it for East Africa when I can. For SA I'd look at SAA through JFK or IAD or Delta through Atlanta---I much prefer not stopping in Europe after an overnight flight and having to connect. SAA 204 from JFK is nice because you leave in the a.m. and get to JNB early a.m. next morning meaning you have a full day to recover from lag or to move on to your next stop.

christabir

With only ten days total, minimize the time on flights and go SAA. Going through Europe adds a whole day.

Cateyes555

Agree with Christabir - look at Delta's non-stop Atlanta to JBurg flight.

sdb2

Actually, using KLM and going through AMS really doesn't have to cost much in travel time vs SAA through Atlanta; a couple hours maybe, but you don't lose a day. And coming back, the KLM routing may be faster. SAA will get you into JNB earlier on the next day (~4-5 pm vs ~10 pm) and that could be a significant factor when choosing a carrier.

cary999

Well, I live in LA area and fly out of LAX. I've flown LAX-AMS-JNB, LAX-LHR-JNB, LAX-JFK-JNB, and probably some other combos. But not ever LAX-ATL-JNB. Which ever route from the time I close my home front door to the time I get to a hotel in JNB takes 28-32 hours total. Looooong hours. I like to arrive JNB a day early and stay overnight to rest up before continuing on to a safari camp (next day).

With some flights arriving JNB early (7am) you can continue on. With others arriving late (6pm) you must stay overnight JNB before continuing. Details, details, details.

regards - tom
ps - did I mention the 9 hour time change from LA?

cristeen

SAA also flies out of Dulles. Sign up for their newsletter email. We ended up booking a year early than our original plan when we received a 2 for 1 offer last summer.

dutyfree

Chicago to Atlanta( 1 hour and 30 minutes) to Jo'Burg(around 16 hours) is the easiest and less stressful way of traveling.B777 equipment with personal screens at each seat in economy-I did this trip last summer and lived to tell about it!

kate_bradley

Hi,
The way to go is South Africa Airlines, they have a non-stop flight from Newyork to Jo'burg and vice versa. We flew with them recently after our Africa trip to Kenya and Victoria falls. It took us 18 hrs 30 minutes to get to NY. Saves a lot of precious time.

tfly212

We recently flew SAA between JFK and JNB...I used miles for business class tickets and we were very happy with the experience. If a 15 hour flight can seem quick, it did. The seats in business are lie flat and they provide a very comfortable mattress pad and duvet. Food was excellent, IFE was decent, offering a mix of US and foreign movies and TV shows. From what I could tell of the coach experience, the food and IFE were good, but the seats are a little snug (we flew the same A340-600 from CPT to JNB in coach and thought 15 hours would have been pretty rough). It's definitely not cheap either in $ or miles to go in J class, but for a trip that long I think it was worth it. SAA is a star alliance member so if you can pool some miles you may be able to do it. Just a tip...when I booked the tickets, I was able to get J on the return immediately, but had to keep calling for J seats on the outbound. Turns out they were released exactly 30 days from departure.

w351

Thanks everyone! We ended up booking IAD to JNB. Appreciate all of the feedback!

africauntamed

I think KLM is best. They can offer you best offers. Specially if you book a return ticket then it will be more beneficial for you.