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.

May 2026 update:

Avianca has changed their pricing significantly. It's no longer a good option for booking United flights.

August 2025 update:

The United Excursionist perk has ended.

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, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic

American Airlines offers 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 between $650-$1200. Even smaller airports often have prices in the $700-$800 range.

You would only need 70,000 points to book a $700 flight in a bank travel portal like Chase Travel℠ or Capital One Travel. 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 you can open American Airlines cards to earn miles directly, plus you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to American Airlines. 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:

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® – often at 75,000 miles – Each parent can get one of these. That’s 150,000 miles! You could also get the personal version of this card.
• Open cards that earn Citi ThankYou points, like the Citi Strata Elite℠ and Citi Strata Premier.

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 uses 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 MileagePlus. As you'll see, pricing in miles varies a lot — and even the taxes and fees can vary a lot.

Booking with United MileagePlus miles offers the best value.

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 are booking through 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.

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

Best for: Non-stop to Ethiopia from Chicago and flights to South Africa.

Cost to book: ANA Mileage Club currently charges 55,000-70,000 miles (round trip) in economy from the US to Africa. 

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

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. Aeroplan adds a $39 partner booking fee to any award flight booked with a partner and other fees for some routes.

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 United, Lufthansa, and TAP Portugal) 75,000 points + CA $308

 

Avianca LifeMiles: from 133,100 points + $157

Best for: Nothing really. They've increased pricing significantly.

Cost: The standard rate is 66,550 LifeMiles each way. Avianca LifeMiles does not pass on fuel surcharges, which can mean lower taxes and fees. It costs $25 per person to issue an award ticket.

LifeMiles Booking Example: New York EWR to Cape Town CPT (on United) 133,100 miles + $156

 

 

Singapore Airlines: From 126,000 miles + $262

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

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.

Booking Tips: 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: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on Ethiopian Airlines and Turkish Airlines) 126,000 miles + $262

United: From 90,400 miles + $111

Best for: Star Alliance flights

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.

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.

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.

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 makes sense to book it one way if the routing or times are best for you.

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

British Airways Booking Example: Washington DC IAD to Cairo CAI 85,000 miles + $310

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.

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.

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

Japan Airlines: From 90,000+ $812

Best for: Round trip flights on oneworld partners like American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar, etc. It's hard to find availability to Africa through Japan Airlines, and taxes and fees can be high, so watch out for that.

Cost: Japan Airlines prices its partner awards by distance. When booking a round trip, the points price is based on the total mileage, not the mileage per segment. For example, a one way ticket to Africa might fall in the 12,001-14,000 mile range and cost 70,000 miles. If you book it as two one way tickets, you would need to pay 140,000 miles total. A roundtrip ticket for the same trip might fall in the 20,001-25,000 mile range. The price for that is 120,000,000 miles. For this reason, it's best to book round trip when booking through Japan Airlines.

Booking Tips: While it's best to book round trip for the best price, you don't have to arrive and depart from the same city. It's possible to fly into Cape Town and out of Nairobi, for instance. Japan Airlines makes it easy to book multiple stops on the same itinerary. You could fly from New York to Cape Town, fly from Cape Town to Nairobi, and then Nairobi back to New York all on one ticket. The mileage price of the ticket is based on the total distance flown, regardless of how many segments are included. Taxes and fees vary by airport and airline flown.

Japan Airlines Booking Example: JFK-JNB (on British Airways and American) 90,000 + $812

Japan Airlines Booking Example: LAX-ZNZ (on American and Qatar) 120,000 + $253

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.

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 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.

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) 69,400 +$331

 

Qantas Airways Booking Example: New York JFK to Johannesburg JNB (on British Airways and LATAM) 141,400 points + $390

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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

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.

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 points cost but higher taxes and fees.

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