South African Airways does not have many routes to the US. They currently fly twice daily to the US. A nonstop from Johannesburg (JNB) to New York – JFK and another flight from Johannesburg to Washington DC – IAD. (This second flight, makes a stop 4x weekly (Mon, Tue, Thu and Sat) in Accra, Ghana (ACC) and the other 3x weekly (Sun, Wed, Fri) in Dakar, Senegal (DSS).
For the nonstop flight from JFK to JNB (flown on the A340-600) or if flying from IAD direct to JNB (more on that in the next paragraph) you would need:
Economy (2-4-2) – 38,462 Amex
Business (2-2-2, lie-flat) - 57,693 Amex
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The 4x weekly flight from IAD to ACC can also be booked on it’s own. This flight is flown on SA’s newest business class product installed on the A330-300. You would need:
Economy (2-4-2) – 26,924 Amex
Business (1-2-1, staggered) - 42,308 Amex
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The 3x weekly flight from IAD to DSS can be booked on it’s own as well. This flight is on the older A330-200 with 2-2-2 seating in J. You would need:
Economy (2-4-2) – 15,385 Amex
Business (2-2-2, lie-flat) - 19,231 Amex
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Continuing on from Dakar (DSS) or Accra (ACC) to South Africa, would require a separate award which would be:
Economy – 15,385 Amex
Business - 19,231 Amex
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Lastly, VS miles can also be a good option to get around Southern Africa area and can be useful if BA does not have availability.
Flying from South Africa to Botswana (Elephant land), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, (Cape Town, Kruger etc.) Swaziland, ZimZam (Victoria Falls) would be:
Economy – 7,693 Amex
Business - 11,539 Amex
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All amounts are for OW. RT would be double. Amounts are taking into effect the current 30% transfer bonus. YQ (Fuel Surcharge) is added to SAA awards. Amount should be comparable with what would show by looking up the itinerary on ITA.