How To Fly From Australia To South Africa With Frequent Flyer Points

I’ve just got back from my first trip to South Africa, not sure what has taken me this long to visit but alas, I’m hoping this guide will inspire you to visit and of course do it in style using frequent flyer points to fly business or maybe even first class to South Africa. In this guide I’ll run you through the best routes to take to fly from Australia to South Africa using points as well as which programs offer the best redemption options. We will also look through the hard products on offer, meaning the aircraft you can fly from Australia to South Africa using your miles and points.

Here's a quick table summarising the main business class redemption costs (one way, plus taxes and fees) from the options below:

Which South African Airports Should You Fly To?

There are really 2 major airports that connect South Africa to the world, those being Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport and Cape Town International Airport. The first one being the number one destination for all major airlines. While Joburg might not be your final destination, its geographic location makes it ideal so more often than not you will end up flying here over Cape Town.

Which Route To Take To Fly From Australia To South Africa?

Coming from Australia, we have 4 choices on routings. These being direct from Perth or Sydney, via South East Asia, via Africa or the Middle East. From Australia direct we currently have 3 options: Sydney to Johannesburg with Qantas, Perth to Johannesburg with Qantas (starts in December 2025), and Perth to Johannesburg with South African Airways.

Direct flights are always harder to find on points, especially considering how stingy Qantas is when it comes to releasing award space. Instead, you might want to connect via South East Asia.

The best options in this case will be Singapore Airlines via Singapore to Johannesburg or Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong to Johannesburg. Another interesting route to take is Air Mauritius from Perth to Johannesburg via Mauritius and occasionally there are also flights from Mauritius directly to Cape Town.

A longer way to get there but with plenty of options is the Middle East. The contenders for routes to both Johannesburg and Cape Town are Qatar Airways and Emirates while Etihad is also an option to Johannesburg.

Best Business Class Point Redemptions From Australia To South Africa

For a better business class experience, Qatar Airways is no doubt in first place with Qsuite operating from all Australian departure points and mini Qsuite going from Doha to Johannesburg.

A saver award using Qatar Airways Avios will set you back 95,000 Avios + taxes and fees. In Australia the easiest way to earn Avios is via American Express Membership Rewards.

Alternatively, often Avios get sold at steep discounts directly by airlines themselves. We often see the best deals via Finnair Avios and the British Airways Avios subscription.

Both these programs can be transferred to Qatar Airways 1:1 at no cost. Since Qatar Airways is a Velocity Frequent Flyer partner, you can also use your Velocity Points to book.

Note that you will be charged additional fees per sector flown so for example SYD-DOH is one sector and DOH-JNB is another sector.

Singapore Airlines Business Class A350

Singapore Airlines operate a range of aircraft from Australia to Singapore. On shorter routes such as Perth to Singapore you may find the regional flat beds on the B787 and A350 while the eastern states such as Melbourne and Sydney will see long range aircraft such as the A380 or A350.

To Johannesburg (and to Cape Town onboard the Singapore Airlines 5th freedom route), you will find the long range A350 with its excellent business class seats.

From Perth & Darwin to Johannesburg you will need to fork out 102,000 KrisFlyer miles + taxes and fees on a saver award.

For the eastern states, expect to pay 124,000 KrisFlyer miles one way in business class + taxes and fees.

Qantas A380 & A330 From Sydney Or Perth

Another solid option to get to South Africa is of course Qantas… if you can find seats that is! In business class, a Qantas Classic Flight Reward will cost you 113,900 Qantas Points + taxes and fees. If you want to splurge and go first class, expect to pay 170,800 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points + taxes and fees from Sydney.

Qantas from Perth (starting in December 2025) will cost you 98,400 Qantas Points + taxes and fees.

Using Tools To Find Award Flights

The best way to easily and quickly find Qantas award seats (as well as Velocity options) is with a tool like Gyoza, it's like a cheat code as you can quickly see all flights from Australia to South Africa with connections.

Use Gyoza to quickly find award seats to South Africa

I personally LOVE this tool just for the connection aspect alone as it's something Seats.Aero struggles with. We've even teamed up with Gyoza to give Flight Hacks readers a massive $100 discount on the annual plan so it's only $99 if you use our code HACKS100 when signing up.

Air Mauritius A330 Business Class From Perth

Air Mauritius is also a less explored option from Perth with the first leg onboard an A330 and the second leg to Johannesburg featuring their newer A350 business class product. Neither of these seats will stack up against the competition such as Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines but the option is there!

You can redeem points on Air Mauritius via Air France Flying Blue, Emirates Skywards and Aeroplan. My top pick here would be Aeroplan which should cost you just 80,000 Aeroplan points. While these are harder to earn in Australia, it’s worth noting that Aeroplan often sells their points at a discount which could be an opportunity to top up your balance and snap up a business class seat on the cheap.

Cost to redeem via Flying Blue and Skywards are pretty steep, both options exceeding more than 140,000 for a one way redemption. Both options mentioned are also hard to find availability for so I would recommend sticking with Aeroplan for this one.

South African Airways A340-300 Business Class

One of the quickest ways to get to Joburg is no doubt South African Airways. To do so, you will have to board the ancient A340-300 which operates the Perth route.

While quad engines are a rarity these days, so are 2-2-2 business class cabins and the A340 sports both! Redeeming this flight is pretty cheap with Aeroplan, coming in at 80,000 points for a one way in business + taxes and fees.

An even better option is to use Velocity Frequent Flyer Points to redeem South African Airways. You will need just 82,000 Velocity Points from Perth to Johannesburg one way + taxes and fees.

You could also purchase Lifemiles when they are on sale, for example during a 170% bonus campaign a one way business class ticket would cost you just US$1159 to buy the points + US$63.4 in taxes and fees.

Redeem 95,000 Lifemiles for South African Airways Business Class

Cathay Pacific B777 & A350 Business Class

Cathay Pacific has some of the best business class seats in the sky. You can now even fly the Aria suite from Melbourne and Sydney to Hong Kong! Even their older seats are extremely comfortable in my opinion and of course the Hong Kong lounges are excellent.

From the east coast of Australia to South Africa, you will need just 115,000 Asia Miles for a one way seat in business class + taxes and fees. Of course, Asia Miles can easily be earned via American Express Membership Rewards. Signing up to a card like Amex Platinum would get you almost enough points for a one way business class flight to South Africa!

Alternatively, if seats are available you can also use other Oneworld programs such as Qantas or Avios but the cost will be higher! Qantas for example, will cost you 182,900 Qantas Frequent Flyer points… yikes.

Etihad A350 & B787 Business Class From Australia to South Africa

Etihad has started operating its snazzy new A350 aircraft on the Australia routes which is a very nice product! To JNB you’ll be on the 787 and while it’s not exactly the newest seat in the sky, it’s pretty comfortable!

An award redemption using Etihad Guest miles will set you back 190,000 from Sydney to Johannesburg one way in business class + taxes and fees. Just keep in mind you may need to call Etihad to book this as they often misprice this flight online.

Emirates A380 Business & First Class

While Emirates is going to be the easiest redemption to find, especially in business. There’s a reason we’ve listed them last, and that is their atrocious taxes/fees on award bookings. A one way flight in business or first from Australia to Johannesburg is going to cost you a crazy $1,827 on top of the points! This means you’re going to be spending close to $4,000 on a return flight.

Using Qantas Points from Perth, a one way flight will cost you 151,800 points in business or 227,800 in first.

Emirates First Class "Game Changer" Suite Available On Melbourne Route

From the Australian east coast, expect to pay 166,300 Qantas Points in business or 249,400 in first class. Personally, I would leave Emirates as a “last resort” booking due to the taxes and if you can, splurge on first class as at least you will be getting a very high quality travel experience as first class is something Emirates does very well.

Getting Around South Africa On Points

Now that you’ve got here, how does one get around on points? Well I’m glad you asked! There are essentially 2 feasible options for Aussies looking to redeem points domestically in South Africa and to and from nearby African countries.

The first one being Airlink, this is a pretty nice local airline which I’ve flown a few times and while expensive (even in economy) they are partners with Qatar Airways (Qatar Airways is part owner). This means you can use your Qatar Airways Avios to redeem flights.

Another option is South African Airways, this is of course a Star Alliance airline so using Aeroplan points or LifeMIles would make most sense unless you really want to burn through your KrisFlyer miles which will probably be more valuable elsewhere to be honest.

You can also use your Velocity Frequent Flyer Points to book South African Airways but keep in mind you will need to contact the member centre to book these seats.

Summing Up

As you can see, there’s a nice range of options to fly from Australia to South Africa using frequent flyer points, my favourite will probably remain Qatar Airways due to the exceptional business class product but a direct flight with Qantas is also hard to beat!