Nonstop flights between the US and South Africa can be quite pricey. That’s due to lack of competition, currently SAA flies nonstop between JFK and Johannesburg and Delta flies nonstop between Atlanta and Johannesburg.
United has announced that they will start seasonal nonstop service between Newark and Cape Town. Currently Cape Town has no nonstop service to anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. United does not currently fly to anywhere in Africa, so this returns them to 6 continents.
United’s Star Alliance partner SAA connects Cape Town with Johannesburg and several other cities.
United’s 787-9 will fly from Newark at 8:30pm on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, arriving into Cape Town at 6pm the next day. The return flight will depart Cape Town at 8:50pm on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, arriving into Newark at 5:45am the next day.
Tickets are not yet available for sale, but should be bookable by May.
Service is slated to begin on 12/15/19, pending government approval, and will operate seasonally through March.
Unites notes that if the route performs well then it will be upgraded to year-round service. For example United launched seasonal service to Tahiti, but then upgraded to year-round service due to its success.
South Africa has long been on my bucket list, so this might be the incentive I need to check it off.
Will you fly United to Cape Town?
South Africa is absolutely breathtaking. You’ll love it. I’m super excited by this news.
How long is the flight?
14.5 hours southbound, 16 hours northbound.
7,817 miles flown each way.
Finally something decent to Africa, without directly competing with SA
United’s award chart with cheaper redemptions will finally make sense. Oh forgot about chart abolishing.
Can’t wait for the flights to be loaded. What kind of award space would you expect to be loaded up at the get-go?
http://www.ask8ball.net/
Your information is incorrect SAA used to fly JNB-CPT-MIA and later on it was switched to FLL
Go complain to USAToday 🙂
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/04/15/united-airlines-returning-africa-nonstop-flights-newark-and-cape-town-south-africa-boeing-787/3473230002/
I’ve edited the post, thanks.
Dan,
As an avid and extensive world traveler, I will tell you that Cape Town was one of my favorite cities. Plus it’s a great jumping off point for many great destinations in Southern Africa. But the icing on the top – for you in particular – is an excellent array of terrific kosher restaurants, all FAR less expensive than any I’ve seen around the world!
Not that many kosher restaurants in Cape Town, although there are a few, Joburg is where the restaurant game is at.
SA also been on my bucketlist for awhile. We booked a trip last week.
After the UA announcement of dynamic fares, I started looking for award seats. Lack of flexible PTO (budget coordinator) eliminates a lot of close in and fare mistake escapes.
Did find and booked a pair of Biz seats on LX from PDX-SFO-ZRH-JNB return was only really an option on BA with AS but found a pair of F seats JNB-LHR-SEA-PDX (even domestic). Fees were $577pp for BA. So this will be out Hanukkah trip this year.
RT to CPT -JNB is reasonable under $100 each way pp, we make take the Luxury train back to see more of the country its quite reasonable as well as an overnight.
SPG (Bonvoy) pts and USD go really far in SA as USD is quite strong against the Rand.
Looking forward to visiting the SA Jewish Museum in CPT.
The Blue Train has dropped in price since last time I checked, mostly because the rand has steadily devalued, but $700 for 900 miles and an overnight is quite unaffordable for some budgets.
The United seasonal service might depend on whether Capetown’s water supply holds out beyond March. As a tourist destination, it’s sort of like those Danube River cruises, where drought might put you on a bus much of the way.
how many points would the united flight charge before they change the price
Currently they charge:
40K coach saver/100K coach everyday.
70K business saver/190K business everyday.
Sounds great. Wonder how much it will cost.
Table Mountain here we come!!