Flying to Africa with Points in Economy {Guide}

Africa is a big continent with many unique destinations to offer. From Casablanca to Cape Town, a visit to Africa is sure to be an amazing trip!

Flying a family to Africa with points and miles is an amazing way to save a ton of money on a bucket list vacation. But figuring out how many points you need to get to Africa can be a challenge.

Because the continent is so big, there’s a lot of variance in pricing. Some airlines price all flights to Africa the same while others divide the continent into different regions. For example, some airlines include Morocco in the same price bracket as Europe while they include Egypt with the Middle East. This can result in a wide range of pricing making it hard to find the best deals.

In this post, I’ll show you many different options for getting to Africa so you can see what’s possible. The best route for you will depend on where you want to go, where you’re traveling from, and what type of points you have. 

If you’re new to booking flights with points, be sure to check out this overview for important background information. You can also sign up for our free course. You’ll want to be sure you understand how to find the best routes, price compare with Google Flights, how to search for available flights, and how to leverage transfer partners and airline alliances.

Earn More Points

Each airline option I list in this article has more than one credit card that can earn you a welcome bonus and the points you need to fly to Africa. This article is already long enough without listing out every single card you could get for each of these programs to earn points.

So how can you figure out how to earn the right points? First step: get my free airline transfer partner guide — inside I have a chart that shows which kinds of points transfer to which airlines.

Then work backwards!

Let’s say you figure out that you want to fly on Delta but you want to book via Virgin Atlantic (this article explains exactly how to do that). You can look at the chart in our guide and see that American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One miles, and Citi ThankYou® Points all transfer 1:1 to Virgin. Then you could browse my Best Offers page, where we list all our favorite current offers–to see which cards currently have good bonuses and earn those kinds of points.

Pro Tip: Transfer Bonuses

Most points transfer 1:1 when you transfer from a program like Chase Ultimate Rewards® to an airline or hotel. But! Banks run promos throughout the year and certain transfers may offer a bonus. I don’t currently maintain an updated list of transfer bonuses but you can find one here.

Routing Tips for Economy Flights to Africa using points and miles

Africa is a big continent and there are many ways to get there. Most flights connect through Europe and there are a few direct flights from the United States. Some routes even connect through Asia!

Since Africa is so far from the United States, non-stop flights are limited. That being said, there are some nice options, especially from the Eastern United States.

If you live near an airport that has a non-stop flight to Africa, that’s a good place to start. (Did you look it up on Flightconnections.com?) Then find what alliance that airline is in and jump down the page to the strategies for that alliance.

Here are a few examples:

From Washington DC to Morocco – Your cheapest option is the non-stop flight on Royal Air Maroc booked through American Airlines.

From Atlanta to South Africa – Delta offers non-stop flights to both Cape Town and Johannesburg from Atlanta.

From Chicago to Addis Ababa – Ethiopian Airlines offers a non-stop flight that is bookable through Star Alliance partners.

Pro Tip: Add A Stopover

One of the best strategies to help make the long travel time bearable is to intentionally add in stopovers. The good news is that there are some options with points where you can add stopovers of a couple days for free.

This means a few days to explore an additional destination for no fee. Even an overnight stopover can really help break up the journey: you get off the plane, book an airport hotel and get a good night’s sleep, and then continue to your final destination.

We have a complete guide on how to add a stopover with Air Canada Aeroplan. Several other airlines allow stopovers as well including Alaska Airlines, Flying Blue, Singapore Airlines, and more.

Top Options: AA, Avianca, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic

American Airlines and Avianca offer a balance of good pricing and lower taxes and fees. Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic have higher taxes and fees, but require fewer points.

What makes the most sense for you may depend on your home airport, preferred routings, how many points you want to spend, and what points you have. You can also read about all the different options in each of the major airline alliances.

Keep in mind that you can use one airline alliance one direction and a different one on the return. This gives you more flexibility to find the best deals.

And don’t forget that booking via a travel portal is still a strong option. It’s not uncommon for flights to Africa to be priced $650-$1200. Even smaller airports often have prices in the $700-$800 range.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, you would only need 56,000 points to book a $700 flight in the Chase Travel Portal. And that includes your taxes and fees!

Best: Using American Airlines miles

The cheapest way to get to Africa from the United States is to go to Morocco. American Airlines offers a reasonable mileage cost and very low taxes and fees. Flights start at 60,000 miles roundtrip with taxes and fees around $57. What makes it an even better deal is that you can often add a connection from your home airport for no additional cost.

Want to go further south? American miles have some good options there, too. You can go round trip to South Africa for 80,000 miles round trip. We also like American because you can change or cancel a flight for free.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

American Airlines miles are relatively easy to earn via credit card bonuses because both Citi and Barclay issue them. You’d need 240,000 AA miles for 4 people to fly round trip from the US to Morocco, or 320,000 points for 4 people to fly round trip to South Africa. How can you get that? Earn the following sign up bonuses (these were current as of July 2024).

• AAdvantage^® Aviator^® Mastercard 70,000 miles- Each parent can get 1 of these. That’s already 140,000 miles! {see this offer on my Best Offers page, it is not an affiliate link}
• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® – 75,000 miles – Each parent can get one of these. That’s another 150,000 miles! Alternatively you could get the personal version of this card.

Using Avianca LifeMiles (to fly on United)

You can use Avianca LifeMiles to book a roundtrip flight to South Africa on United for just 80,000 miles and $95 in taxes and fees. The same flight booked directly with United costs 99,000 miles, though taxes and fees are a bit lower at around $56. If you’re booking for a family, that 19,000 point difference can add up fast! Booking via a partner is a great way to save some miles-especially when the taxes and fees are still reasonable.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile flexible points that transfer to Avianca. Transfer bonuses of 15% or more are common which can make for an even better deal. You’ll need about 320,000 points saved up for a family of 4.

• Open cards that earn Capital One miles (these transfer to Avianca). One of my favorites for luxe perks is the Capital One Venture X (earn 75,000 miles) and you can also earn 75,000 miles with the $95 fee Capital One Venture card.
• Open cards that earn Citi ThankYou® Points. The Citi Strata Premier has good earning rates and offers travel protection.

Using Flying Blue (Free Stopover) or Virgin Atlantic (lowest points possible)

If your goal is to pay the least amount of miles possible, take a look at Virgin Atlantic or Flying Blue (the loyalty program of KLM and Air France). You may pay more in taxes and fees, but there are still good deals to be had, especially if you can book your flight during a transfer bonus.

For example you can book a flight to Morocco for 40,000 Flying Blue miles and $212 round trip. With a 25% transfer bonus, you would only need 32,000 miles to book that flight. Flights to South Africa can be 70,000-80,000 miles round trip. A great perk with Flying Blue is that you can book a free stopover either in Paris (if you’re flying on Air France) or Amsterdam (if you’re flying on KLM). You do need to call to book a stopover.

Virgin Atlantic has switched to dynamic pricing which means prices aren’t always predictable. But if you’re flexible on dates, you can find the lowest point prices of any airline. For example, you can fly from Atlanta to Cape Town for 15,000 miles and $176 (one way) which is pretty incredible. Transfer bonuses are frequent which can make the actual number of points needed even lower. Return flights for that particular route are hard to find at the 15,000 mile price point. 25,00-30,000 (plus around $220-$280 in fees) is more common, but still hard to find. In this case, it may be worth booking a one-way flight with Virgin, then using another program for the return. 

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile flexible points that transfer to Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic

• Open cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®. A great option are the Chase Ink family of cards
• Open cards that earn Capital One miles (these transfer to Virgin Red and can then be moved to Virgin Atlantic). One of my favorites for perks is the Capital One Venture X (earn 75,000 miles) but you can also earn 75,000 miles with a $95 fee Capital One Venture card.
• If a household opened 2 Ink cards and 2 Venture X cards, you’d have 406,000 miles after completing the spend and referring each other to the second card. That’s enough for a family of 5 to fly roundtrip to Morocco twice!

Star Alliance Sweet Spots

The best way to book flights onto Star Alliance carriers is not necessarily with their own points and miles currencies. Star Alliance airlines release certain seats to other Star Alliance airlines to allow bookings with points. So you could use ANA miles to book onto United and vice versa.

The major options for booking Star Alliance flights with points are via ANA, Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore Krisflyer, and United Mileage Plus. As you’ll see, pricing in miles varies a lot — and even the taxes and fees can vary a lot.

Avianca LifeMiles is overall the best value (if you balance cost in miles and factor in fees) but sometimes it is easier to get Air Canada Aeroplan miles, especially if you can utilize a transfer bonus. United Mileage plus miles are also easy to earn and offer good value — and also can allow you to see another destination with the Excursionist Perk, if you can find a saver award.

How to search for Star Alliance award availability:

For United flights, you’ll want to search on United.com to see 30 day availability. Look for United awards marked “Saver” — these are the ones that will be released to alliance partners. At this time, those are usually 50,000 miles each way. If you have a certain non-stop route you are searching, you can also find the cheapest date in a 365 day range by using SeatSpy (currently disabled for United flights as of July 2024) .

If you are booking through Avianca, Aeroplan, or ANA, you can search United.com for awards that will be released to Star Alliance partners. It’s often easier to search on United to find availability first, then go see if you can find the same flight on a partner site.

To search with Avianca, go to www.lifemiles.com and click “travel”. You’ll need to create a free account to search. Enter your departure and arrival cities then click the date box to choose dates. The dates with the lowest prices are marked with blue.

ANA Mileage Club: from 55,000 miles + $123

Best for: Non-stop to Ethiopia from Chicago and flights to South Africa. Just note that it is harder to earn these points as only American Express is a transfer partner.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®. Transfers usually take about 48 hours.

Cost to book: ANA Mileage Club currently charges 55,000-70,000 miles (round trip) in economy from the US to Africa. Fuel surcharges change regularly and can move up and down – tied somewhat to oil pricing.

This is an option for booking on United flights. United flights are only available to book with ANA miles if they are “Saver” awards. You can search directly on United.com and use the 30 day calendar to find flights.

Notes: ANA Mileage club only allows round trip awards — though you can also book an open jaw. That means you could fly into one city and then out of another, for instance.

You can only book tickets with your ANA miles for people “within two degrees” of family relationship.

ANA Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on TAP Portugal) 55,000 miles +$123

ANA Booking Example: Chicago ORD to Addis Ababa ADD (on Ethiopian Airlines) 70,000 miles + $127

ANA Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT 70,000 miles +$168

Air Canada Aeroplan: from 70,000 points +CA $261

Best for: Star Alliance flights, especially if you can utilize a transfer bonus

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital One Miles

Cost: Aeroplan uses a distance based chart meaning the price varies depending on how far you’re flying. Flights start at 35,000 miles each way. Taxes and fees to Africa are somewhat high, especially compared with other Star Alliance partners like Avianca. Aeroplan adds a $39 partner booking fee to any award flight booked with a partner and other fees for some routes.

Notes: Aeroplan allows you to add stopovers for just 5,000 miles more which can be helpful if you want to visit more than one city.

Air Canada does have a nice feature where you can choose how many points you use and it will change the dollar amount. You can even use points to cover the taxes and fees. With this option it’s possible to pay zero dollars by using additional points.

Aeroplan Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT (on Ethiopian Airlines) 140,000 points + CA $178

Aeroplan Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT (on United Airlines) 110,000 points + CA $221

Aeroplan Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on Tap Portugal) 70,000 points + CA $261

Avianca LifeMiles: from 80,000 points + about $100

Best for: Star Alliance flights when you know you won’t cancel. Avianca does charge high cancellation fees so you don’t want to book this if you might cancel. Avianca does not pass along fuel surcharges which makes the flights very affordable.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Citi ThankYou® Points, Capital One Miles (often with a 30% transfer bonus)

Cost: The standard rate is 40,000 LifeMiles each way. Avianca LifeMiles does not pass on fuel surcharges which makes it a great way to pay lower taxes and fees. Taxes and fees are reasonable, usually under $100 for a roundtrip. It costs $25 per person to issue an award ticket.

Notes: Avianca is not known for having great customer service, so take that into consideration. Also note that the cancellation and change fees are high. If you need to cancel an award, changes cost $150 per person and cancellations are usually $200.

Booking Tips: You will need to create a LifeMiles account and login here to confirm availability and book. It can be hard to find availability for both legs of your trip. Although there is generally decent availability going TO Africa, finding a return flight for the standard 40,000 mile price is more challenging. If you can’t find an outbound and return flight that work, consider booking one way with LifeMiles and the other way with a different carrier.

LifeMiles Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT (on United) 80,000 miles + $95

LifeMiles Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on Tap Portugal, Egypt Air and/or Lufthansa) 85,000 miles + $26

Singapore Airlines: From 102,000 miles + $122

Best for: This is generally higher priced than other options but we left it here as a point of comparison.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou® points

Cost: Singapore uses a zone based award chart. Prices start at 51,000 miles each way for a saver award from the US to Africa.

Note: Go to Singaporeair.com and select “redeem flights” to search for an award flight. You’ll to create an account or log in to search.

Booking Tips: Singapore’s website will default to searching their own flights, make sure to toggle “Star Alliance” if you want to see partner flights. Singapore’s own flights to Africa almost always route through Singapore which makes for a long journey, but the free stopover may make it worth it.

Singapore Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN(on TAP Portugal) 102,000 miles + $122

Singapore Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on Singapore Airlines) 146,000 miles + $121

United: From 90,400 miles + $111

Best for: Star Alliance flights and booking multi-leg itineraries with the Excursionist Perk

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Cost: United uses dynamic pricing so award rates can vary. The best value is with their “Saver” awards. You can find one way award tickets to and from Africa from 45,000 points each way.

Notes: United miles do have some perks to booking with them. First – the United website is very user friendly with easy ways to search and sort awards. United doesn’t pass along fuel surcharges or tack on extra fees. In addition – United has a nice perk called the Excursionist Perk which can be valuable if you’re hopping cities! Essentially, you can add one leg for free. So you could fly Chicago to Nairobi, Nairobi to Johannesburg, and Johannesburg back to Chicago for the same price as a round trip. You could even add another country or city on the way back to the US.

United Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on United and Lufthansa) 90,400 miles + $111

United Booking Example: New York EWR to Nairobi NBO (on Ethiopian Airlines) 99,000 miles + $77

United Booking Example: Los Angeles LAX to Dar Es Salaam DAR (on United and Ethiopian Airlines) 99,000 miles + $88

United Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT (on United) 99,000 miles + $56

Oneworld Sweet Spots

Booking via American Airlines is the best option for oneworld flights. It has low prices and low fees for partner airlines like British Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Qatar.

How to Search for oneworld availability

It’s easy to search on AA.com to see 30 day availability. If you have a certain route you are searching, you can also find the cheapest date in a 365 day range at SeatSpy.

American Airlines: 60,000 miles + $57

Best for: Flights to Morocco on Royal Air Maroc and flying from smaller airports.

Transfer points from: No transfer partners but since both Citi and Barclay issue AA cards, it is fairly easy to rack up points with credit card bonuses. You can also earn more miles by using the AAdvantage shopping portal.

Cost: American Airlines uses dynamic pricing for their own flights but has pretty standard pricing for partner awards. Flights to Africa cost 30,000-40,000 points each way depending on distance. Taxes and fees are low, typically under $100. Flying on British Airways results in higher taxes and fees.

Notes: For some routes, it can be hard to find availability with more than 3 seats. If this happens, try departing from a different city.

Booking Tip: You can often add a connection from your home airport without increasing the points cost. This eliminates the need to position yourself at a larger airport.

AA Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on Royal Air Maroc) 60,000 miles + $57

AA Booking Example: Buffalo, NY BUF to Casablanca CMN (on Royal Air Maroc) 60,000 miles +$63

As you can see, this is the same flight to Casablanca from Washington DC, it just adds a connection from Buffalo. The taxes and fees are slightly higher, but not by much.

AA Booking Example: Los Angeles LAX to Zanzibar ZNZ (on Qatar) 80,000 miles + $151

 

AA Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on AA and British Airways) 80,000 miles + $132

While normally British Airways has large fuel surcharges that get tacked on even when booking through American Airlines, the routes that start with a flight on American Airlines to Europe and connect to a British Airways flight to South Africa don’t have those surcharges added.

British Airways: from 79,000 miles + $599

Best for: Nothing, really. As a general rule, I don’t recommend booking these routes with British Airways because the taxes and fees are very high and the price in points is also the same as other options. I’ve included some examples for your reference. Sometimes it still make sense to book it one way if the routing or times are best for you.

Transfer Points From: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital one Miles. Or transfer from Citi ThankYou® Points to another Avios partner and from there to British Airways.

Cost: British Airways will usually add on large fuel surcharges. It uses a distance based chart so price will vary based on your route.

British Airways Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Cairo CAI 79,000 miles = $599

British Airways Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB 110,000 miles + $594

Cathay Pacific: From 76,000 miles + $556

Best For: Taking a long layover in Hong Kong.

Transferring Points From: Points from American Express, Capital One, Citi, and BILT can all be transferred to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio.

Cost: Cathay Pacific uses a distance based chart. The longest distance caps out at 38,000 Asia Miles each way for Cathay flights. Partner awards to Africa cost 27,00-47,000 miles each way. Cathay Pacific, like British Airways, passes on large fuel surcharges on award tickets, especially for their own flights. Some partner awards have lower taxes and fees.

Booking Tips: Go to Cathaypacific.com and under flights choose “Redeem flights”. You’ll need to sign in to search. Input your departure and arrival cities along with your preferred dates.

Note: You can book partner awards starting at 27,000 miles each way, but if you don’t have enough points in your account to proceed with the booking, you may not be able to see the taxes and fees required. If you’re looking at a particular flight that doesn’t show the taxes and fees, call Cathay Pacific and ask. You’ll want to know what the taxes and fees are before transferring any points.

Cathay Pacific Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on Cathay) 76,000 miles + $556

Alaska Airlines: From 55,000 miles + $424

Best for: The point prices are reasonable but Alaska Airlines charges high taxes and fees on many flights to Africa so it may not be the best option. I’ve included several booking options for your reference. Alaska does allow you to book free stopovers, so the higher price could be worth it if you value the stopover.

Transferring Points From: Alaska Mileage Plan only has one transfer partner: BILT Rewards. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. It’s hard to earn a lot of Alaska miles. But you can look for co-branded credit card offers when they are about 70,000 miles for the business or personal version. You can also earn miles through their shopping portal MileagePlus Shopping.

With the Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines merger, it’s now possible to transfer Hawaiian Airlines miles to Alaska Airlines. American Express Membership Rewards® points transfer to Hawaiian at a 1:1 ratio. That means you can transfer from American Express to Hawaiian Airlines, and then take those points and transfer them to Alaska Airlines. Note that American Express charges a small excise fee to transfer points to Hawaiian Airlines.

Cost: Award ticket costs for Alaska partner flights are determined by distance. Most flights start at 55,000 miles round trip. Taxes and fees are high.

Notes: To pay fewer taxes and fees, you can book through Alaska Mileage Plan onto a different carrier, but you’ll pay more miles. As an example, you could book onto Qatar and pay fewer taxes and fees but the miles price is higher and those flights route through Doha which makes for a long journey.

Alaska Airlines Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on Royal Air Maroc) 55,000 miles + $424

Alaska Airlines Booking Example: Los Angeles LAX to Zanzibar ZNZ (on Alaska and Qatar) 85,000 miles +$182

Alaska Airlines Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on Qatar) 110,000 miles + $152

Qantas: from 60,400 miles +$331

Best for: It’s typically not the best option for flying to Africa with points, but here are some booking examples as a point of comparison.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou® Points all transfer to Qantas.

Cost: Reward flights booked through Qantas are based on distance. The farther you go, the more miles it will cost. Additionally, Qantas tacks on large fuel surcharges for oneworld partner flights.

Qantas Airways Booking Example: New York JFK to Casablanca CMN (on Iberia and Royal Air Maroc) 60,400 +$331

Qantas Airways Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on British Airways and LATAM) 123,000 points + $365

Sky Team Sweet Spots

If you want to pay the least amount of points possible, Sky Team is the way to do it.

For flights on Delta, you’ll often be best off booking through one of its partner airlines. Virgin Atlantic has the lowest pricing and cheap fees. Flying Blue is a little bit more in terms of points – but if there is a transfer bonus to Flying Blue, it may be cheaper overall.

Delta: From 100,000 miles + $118

Best for: Flash sales on Delta and booking from regional airports.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards® (you will pay an excise fee on transferring these from Amex to Delta, for 50,000 points it costs $30). You can also earn Delta miles with Delta Co-branded cards.

Cost: Delta pricing is the most volatile of all the U.S. airlines. There can be some great deals on Delta but they aren’t predictable. If you want to book on Delta, you may find more consistent pricing by booking via one of their partners.

Because pricing is so unpredictable, adding a connection from your home airport can sometimes reduce the price. In the example below, adding a connection from Louisville results in a lower trip price overall.

Notes: Delta also typically gives a hefty discount when you book a round trip versus one way on their own flights. The cheapest fares are typically in basic economy and don’t include things like seat selection. You can upgrade to main cabin for seat selection, free changes, earlier boarding, etc.

Delta Booking Example: New York JFK to Nairbo NBO (on KLM) 100,000 miles +$118

Delta Booking Example: Atlanta ATL to Johannesburg JNB (on Delta) 164,000 miles + $52

Delta Booking Example: Louisville SDF to Johannesburg JNB (on Delta) 152,000 miles + $58

Flying Blue: Starting at 40,000 miles + $217

Best for: Flights to North African countries like Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Also a great option to include a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam. Kids 2-12 also get a 25% discount on award flight pricing.

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards®, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou® Points. It’s easy to earn Flying Blue points since all major banks transfer to them and transfer bonuses are frequent.

Cost: Cost varies depending on your route. I give four examples below but starts at 40,000 miles roundtrip. With a 25% transfer bonus, you would only need 32,000 points to book.

Booking Tips: To find the best prices, don’t enter a date when searching. You’ll then see a calendar view where you can easily find the dates with the lowest prices. You can add a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam by calling to book. This can be a great way to break up your journey and explore another city.

Note: If you start your search with Virgin, it can show “phantom availability” meaning you will appear to have availability but not actually be able to book. You’ll need to run the same search on Flying Blue’s website to make sure you can find the same flight available there, too. Not all Delta flights will be bookable with points.

Flying Blue Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Casablanca CMN (on Air France) 40,000 miles + $217

Flying Blue Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Cairo CAI (on Air France) 66,000 miles +$322

Flying Blue Booking Example: New York JFK to Cape Town CPT (on Air France) 70,000 miles + $325

Flying Blue Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Nairobi NBO (on KLM and Air France) 77,000 miles +$355

Virgin Atlantic: starting at 42,000 points + $456

Best for: Booking Delta flights when Virgin Atlantic has a transfer bonus. Or if you want to pay fewer points and don’t mind higher taxes and fees.

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards®, and Citi ThankYou® Points. Capital One miles can transfer to Virgin Red which can then be moved to Virgin Atlantic.

Cost: Booking a flight onto Delta will have a higher points cost but low taxes and fees. Flying on Virgin or Air France has a lower point cost but higher taxes and fees.

Booking Tips: To find Delta flights, it may be easier to check Delta’s website first to find reward availability. Then check for those dates on Virgin’s website.

Seats.aero is a good tool to help you find the lowest pricing, especially if you’re flexible on dates. It’s often easier to find the best deals by searching one way at a time. 

Note: Sometimes Virgin shows “phantom availability” meaning you will appear to have availability but not actually be able to book. It is best to run the same search on FlyingBlue’s website to make sure you can find the same flight available there, too. If you’re still unsure, call to confirm availability before transferring points.

 

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: New York JFK to Nairobi NBO (on KLM) 48,000 points + $496

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: Atlanta ATL to Cape Town CPT (on Virgin Atlantic) 42,000 points + $456

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: Atlanta ATL to Johannesburg JNB (on Delta) 131,000 + $52

Tables Comparing Price by Airlines (Points + Taxes/Fees)

Flights to Northern Africa

Flights to Central and Southern Africa

As you can see, each airline varies on the miles required for a round trip ticket as well as taxes and fees!