Intel: Flying to South Africa is Longggg
It's farther than you think
The flight from the United States to South Africa is one of the world’s longest jaunts, with planes flying over the open Atlantic Ocean equally as long as those planes flying transpacific to Australia.
In fact, Delta Airlines’ longest flight is Atlanta to Johannesburg and its second longest is Cape Town back to Atlanta, a whopping 16 hours in the air each way covering 8,500 miles.
United Airlines offers direct Washington and Newark to Cape Town service at around 15 hours in the sky.
Other carriers combine a flight to Europe or the Middle East with a connection to South Africa, but those are also over 10 hours. British Airways, Lufthansa, and Emirates fly into Cape Town’s airport (CPT).
If you’re not on one of these direct Cape Town flights, you’ll likely have to fly to Johannesburg (JNB) first before connecting to another 2-hour domestic flight.
For these reasons, this is a flight to consider splurging on business class, or at least some extra leg room. Be sure to pull out all the long haul flight precautions too: wear medical suppression stockings, walk about every few hours, and hydrate.
It’s also worth a window seat (if you’re flying to Johannesburg first) to see Namibia’s overtly red Skeleton Coast from above–visible around 2 hours before landing.
The Skeleton Coast of Namibia; Delta's longest flight.
Photo Source: One Mile at a Time, Syllogi
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