Best Airline flying from the U.S. to South Africa

Shootist43 · Sep 30, 2015

My sons and I are getting ready to book our flights to Johannesburg and have received quotes from two Travel Agents. We can either fly Delta all the way or we can take a U.S. carrier to Washington D.C. and fly South African Airlines for the rest of the way. We would like to hear from others that have already made the trip which Airline they prefer and why.

Mike70560 · Sep 30, 2015

I have made the trip on Delta, SAA, and Delta/Air France through Paris.

Comfort wise the Air France "Premium Economy" was the most comfortable. The layover in Paris was around 18 hours and I spent part of the day touring.

Delta's Economy Comfort with the extra leg room is OK.

Delta was direct from ATL to JNB which was the quickest.

When I flew SAA we stopped in Dakar, did not get off the plane but it added to the time of the trip. They may fly direct now as that was a couple of years ago.

Food wise Air France was the best by far.

Now Delta and Air France will not fly trophies or at least any of the big five. I do believe SAA is flying trophies again. That would play a huge role in my current decision.

Scott Slough · Sep 30, 2015

Long flight(s) ... although I have not flown the exact route you have requested ... I have flown 8-10 carriers on 10+ hour flights and they all suck! When in doubt, support the airline that supports you the most ... and I agree with @Mike70560 that SAA is that airline today. Hopefully, more airlines will support trophy transportation in the furture.

LivingTheDream · Sep 30, 2015

The Dulles to jo-berg flight still goes through Darkar or Ghana. It wasn't too bad, you are only down for maybe an hour. I used miles to upgrade my ticket and it was well worth it.

Air France is usually really nice and have flown coach a couple of times to Europe.

I don't like Delta, but is more of a preference and is not backed by any facts or stories.

375 Ruger Fan · Sep 30, 2015

Depends: Are you flying economy or business class? Are you looking for quickest, most direct, cheapest, etc?

Some friends of ours from Houston met us in JNB recently. I thought they were going to fly Delta business class (Houston-Atlanta-JNB) because they get a discount since their son is a pilot w/ Delta. Instead, they flew Qatar (Houston-Doha-JNB)and they said B-class was half the price ($4k vs. $8k per person).

If you are flying economy, the Delta flight is a good flight. I flew all my kids over last year and upgraded it to Economy Comfort for about $1500 per person. It's a 15 hour flight. The "Comfort" upgrade on Delta was $250 as I recall and it gets you a few more inches of leg room, seat reclines a bit more, and you get "free" drinks. It gets into JNB late afternoon, so you will probably need to overnight in JNB. The City Lodge Hotel, right at the airport is good. The African Rock is fantastic and I've seen several reports on this forum that the African Sky is quite good and caters to the safari folks.

Rob404 · Sep 30, 2015

I flew KLM to Amsterdam and thought they did a nice job good service good food, then SA to Johannesburg same result, however I would rather walk home than ever fly Air France, Poor food terrible service, the typical I don't give a F--- attitude, I would fly into Atlanta then to SA, way less hassles, and if you fly coach you will know what a sardine feels like,,Travel Express is the people to talk to Lori has been there and done that

woods1126 · Sep 30, 2015

I have flown from JFK to Jo Burg, and on to Port Elizabeth SA, twice with family and friends. For best rates and in my opinion, best service, SAA is the only way to travel to Africa! Kevin

brandondd24 · Sep 30, 2015

I also flew with Saa. I enjoyed the flight and the food was good.

JimP · Oct 6, 2015

Call Lori at Travel Express, she is a sponsor here on the forums and knows the ins and outs of the flights to SA.

I flew SSA this last May and would do it again. No problems at all.

Philip Glass · Oct 7, 2015

I just flew the ATL to JNB on Delta comfort economy ($400 more round trip). The seats were better but TV system was horrible. It had the worst touch screen I had ever seen! Aggravating for 16 hours. I rarely eat any airplane food but it looked about the same as the others. The service was sadly no better than SAA but better flight due to not stopping.
I stayed at City Lodge and was taken there by Gracy Travel's staff. All very nice and good breakfast buffet. City lodge is super easy to get to and was only $140 per night with breakfast.
The next time I visit Namibia I will go DFW-Frankfurt-Windhoek.
Regards,
Philip

rookhawk · Oct 7, 2015

I would say Emirates by 10 orders of magnitude over all other carriers. Biz class is best in the world and half the price of others. Coach is like biz class on American domestically.

Connect in Dubai, live like a king. $4000 round trip usually.

BWH · Oct 7, 2015

What is your origination?

You have delta direct from ATL, SAA from the east coast.... Not carrying firearms, then you can go AA through London.

I flew Delta the first time... It was ok.

I am going in May via Emirates. DFW via Dubai. A little longer, but their biz fare is was half deltas for superior experience.....

Really just depends on where you start/finish.

Mekaniks · Oct 7, 2015

rookhawk said:
I would say Emirates by 10 orders of magnitude over all other carriers. Biz class is best in the world and half the price of others. Coach is like biz class on American domestically.

Connect in Dubai, live like a king. $4000 round trip usually.

Did I read somewhere that Emirates has some weird pre-approval requirement for traveling with firearms??

BWH · Oct 7, 2015

Just let them know.... Show them docs.... I think it is a few days or so before departing

tgreene · Oct 7, 2015

South African Airways. Usually best rate and typically a more than comfortable flight experience. Flying to Windhoek through Joberg for 1317 $ round trip on Nov 7 for a lion hunt, Not bad for last minute hunt. A lot of the travel agents buy up travel times at discounted rates. Custom Travel, Gracy etc. Need to shop a little. will do your wallet some good.

JuneauEd · Oct 16, 2015

tgreene said:
South African Airways. Usually best rate and typically a more than comfortable flight experience. Flying to Windhoek through Joberg for 1317 $ round trip on Nov 7 for a lion hunt, Not bad for last minute hunt. A lot of the travel agents buy up travel times at discounted rates. Custom Travel, Gracy etc. Need to shop a little. will do your wallet some good.

JuneauEd · Oct 16, 2015

We used miles to fly Business Class on Alaska/Cathay Pacific from Juneau-LAX-Hong Kong -Joburg. Certainly very long flights but great service, terrific food and use of their Airport lounges. We did not take rifles so don't know about their baggage rules.

JuneauEd · Oct 16, 2015

JuneauEd said:
We used miles to fly Business Class on Alaska/Cathay Pacific from Juneau-LAX-Hong Kong -Joburg. Certainly very long flights but great service, terrific food and use of their Airport lounges. We did not take rifles so don't know about their baggage rules.

JuneauEd · Oct 16, 2015

Our friends who used KLM were quite satisfied and did bring guns. Other friends flew on Emirates and did not make arrangements ahead of time to bring their guns and were disappointed but used the PH's rifles.

BWH · Oct 16, 2015

Via Emirates.....

Sporting weapons and ammunition

Firearms designed for sporting purposes, such as target pistols and rifles, air guns, safari rifles, hunting rifles, etc., may be carried as checked baggage on Emirates flights under the following conditions:

Firearms must be completely unloaded and, if possible, dismantled and packed inside a suitcase or standard gun case.
The carriage of any type of firearms, ammunition, or explosives, including items containing explosives, must be approved by Emirates no less than three days before your flight. Please complete the firearms form (available only in English) in the Contact Us section of our Help Center to start the approval process. Please allow extra time for public holidays and weekends in your country of residence and the UAE.
Ammunition must be securely stored in a strong, sealed box packed inside a suitcase and surrounded by other contents. The suitcase must not bear an "Explosive" label.
The maximum gross weight of the ammunition carried by any single customer is 5kg (11lbs). Customers traveling in groups must carry ammunition in their own separate bags, with no single bag carrying more than the 5kg (11lb) limit.

The following special conditions apply to customers wishing to carry firearms on flights into or through Dubai:

Customers who wish to bring firearms and ammunition into the UAE must obtain prior clearance from UAE Customs and the UAE Ministry of Defence. To obtain this clearance, customers must contact these government departments directly.
For transfer and transit customers who are connecting to onward flights, prior clearance to travel with firearms and ammunition must be obtained from the Dubai Airport Police Department and the Department of Civil Aviation.

Best Airline flying from the U.S. to South Africa

Shootist43

Mike70560

Scott Slough

LivingTheDream

375 Ruger Fan

Rob404

woods1126

brandondd24

JimP

Philip Glass

rookhawk

BWH

Mekaniks

BWH

tgreene

JuneauEd

JuneauEd

JuneauEd

JuneauEd

BWH

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