Travellers reach United States from 8 African airports on 13 catalogued routes, flown by Delta Air Lines, South African Airways, UA, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Air Senegal. This corridor sits in the outbound diaspora corridor. The tables below list every catalogued route, the carriers on it, and — where our cache has data — the lowest USD fare seen; all fares are quoted in USD, with on-the-ground spending in USD.
Routes to United States
13 catalogued corridors reach the United States from 8 African airports, flown by 7 carriers and totalling about 63 weekly departures, with block times from 7.5 h to 15.8 h. 8 of them run fewer than seven times a week, the line where a cancellation starts costing days rather than hours.
| Route | Carriers | Freq/wk | Block (h) | Market low (USD) | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johannesburg (JNB) → New York (JFK) | DL, SA | ~7 | ~15.5 | — | guide |
| Lagos (LOS) → Washington (IAD) | UA | ~4 | ~11.5 | — | guide |
| Lagos (LOS) → New York (JFK) | DL | ~7 | ~11.0 | — | guide |
| Accra (ACC) → Washington (IAD) | UA | ~3 | ~11.0 | — | guide |
| Accra (ACC) → New York (JFK) | DL | ~4 | ~10.5 | $953 | guide |
| Addis Ababa (ADD) → Washington (IAD) | ET | ~7 | ~13.0 | $821 | guide |
| Johannesburg (JNB) → Atlanta (ATL) | DL | ~7 | ~15.8 | — | guide |
| Johannesburg (JNB) → Washington (IAD) | UA | ~4 | ~15.3 | — | guide |
| Lagos (LOS) → Atlanta (ATL) | DL | ~7 | ~11.5 | — | guide |
| Nairobi (NBO) → Washington (IAD) | KQ | ~3 | ~15.0 | — | guide |
| Abuja (ABV) → Washington (IAD) | UA | ~3 | ~11.0 | — | guide |
| Casablanca (CMN) → New York (JFK) | AT | ~4 | ~7.5 | — | guide |
| Dakar (DSS) → New York (JFK) | HC | ~3 | ~9.5 | $756 | guide |
8 of these corridors run fewer than seven times a week, which is the line where disruption stops being an inconvenience. Below daily frequency, a cancellation can mean days rather than hours, and re-accommodation onto another airline requires an interline or codeshare agreement rather than goodwill. If your dates into United States are fixed, prefer the higher-frequency gateway even at a higher fare.
Airlines flying to United States
7 carriers fly the corridors into the United States covered here; for the 6 we hold details on, checked-baggage baselines are 23 kg, and 5 of them belong to a global alliance. Baselines are economy figures and depend on the fare family you buy.
Carriers operating the catalogued routes to United States, with alliance, baggage baseline and any diaspora or pilgrim baggage uplift:
| Airline | Alliance | Checked baggage | Diaspora uplift | Hajj/Umrah charter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | SkyTeam | 23 kg | — | No |
| South African Airways (SA) | Star Alliance | 23 kg | +5 kg | No |
| UA (UA) | — | — | — | No |
| Ethiopian Airlines (ET) | Star Alliance | 23 kg | +5 kg | Yes |
| Kenya Airways (KQ) | SkyTeam | 23 kg | +5 kg | No |
| Royal Air Maroc (AT) | Oneworld | 23 kg | +23 kg | Yes |
| Air Senegal (HC) | None | 23 kg | — | No |
Diaspora and migrant-worker baggage uplift recorded against these carriers: Royal Air Maroc +23 kg, Ethiopian Airlines +5 kg, Kenya Airways +5 kg and South African Airways +5 kg. Three exclusions normally apply to promotions of this kind: they attach to nominated corridors rather than the whole network, they are rarely honoured on another airline’s codeshare or interline segment, and the deepest-discount fare buckets are usually carved out. Confirm against your own booking class in writing.
Visa & entry — United States
Entry rule for United States, by passport: B1/B2 visitor visa unless your passport is from a Visa Waiver Program country. Fee $185 USD non-refundable application (MRV) fee for a B visitor visa; maximum stay Decided by the officer at the port of entry. A transit stop can need its own visa even airside.
Entry rules by named nationality (verify against the official source before booking):
| Entry type | Fee | Max stay | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1/B2 visitor visa unless your passport is from a Visa Waiver Program country | $185 USD non-refundable application (MRV) fee for a B visitor visa | Decided by the officer at the port of entry | official |
Fee from the official US visa appointment service for South Africa. In-person interview at a US embassy or consulate.
Nationality changes this answer. The row above names the passports it covers; a traveller on a West African, East African or North African passport not named there can face a different fee, a different processing route or outright ineligibility for the same United States entry class.
Worth knowing before booking: Fee from the official US visa appointment service for South Africa. In-person interview at a US embassy or consulate.
When to book
Book 3-5 months ahead. That window is our guidance for the outbound diaspora corridor traffic that dominates travel into the United States, based on how fares on these corridors behave in our own weekly log. Every fare on this site is quoted in USD.
Book 3-5 months ahead. Fares climb steeply around the December holidays and the summer, when diaspora travel peaks. See each per-route guide for month-by-month fare seasonality.
Treat the window as a function of the schedule rather than a rule. Dense corridors into United States keep releasing inventory, so a late booking costs money but still works. Thin ones sell their cheap buckets months ahead and then simply run out, which is a different failure — one that no amount of refreshing a search will fix.
There are two different problems here and they have opposite answers. With flexible dates, scan a whole month — the seasonal spread in our own fare log is wider than any difference between one gate and another. With dates locked by a pilgrimage, a school term or a job start, searching is wasted effort and buying early is the only lever left.
Cached fares to United States
$756 is the lowest USD quote our cache holds on any corridor into the United States — on DSS-JFK — out of 3 priced corridors of the 13 catalogued. Each is one cached observation on its own corridor, in economy, not a low across the cache.
Lowest USD fares in our weekly Travelpayouts cache on routes to United States (market lows across all carriers, each a dated observation; check live prices before booking):
| Corridor | Market low (USD) | Cheapest month seen |
|---|---|---|
| DSS-JFK | $756 | $756 in Jul 2026 |
| ADD-IAD | $821 | $824 in Aug 2026 |
| ACC-JFK | $953 | $640 in Sep 2026 |
| Corridor | Readings | Cached range (USD) | Cheapest week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACC-JFK | 5 | $658–$1,008 | 2026-W25 |
| CMN-JFK | 6 | $322–$659 | 2026-W20 |
| JNB-JFK | 4 | $523–$665 | 2026-W23 |
Those rows come from our weekly fare log, which samples the cheapest published quote once a week across 161 corridors. Each reading is a single snapshot rather than an average of everything sold that week, so a one-week dip can be one small fare bucket. What the range does establish is a defensible floor: a live quote far above the top of the range on a United States corridor is worth a second search on flexible dates.
Departure airports for United States
8 African airports have a catalogued corridor to the United States on this site: Abuja (ABV), Accra (ACC), Addis Ababa (ADD), Casablanca (CMN), Dakar (DSS), Johannesburg (JNB), Lagos (LOS) and Nairobi (NBO). Fares from every one of them are quoted in USD so the origins stay comparable.
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Abuja airport (ABV) — Nnamdi Azikiwe International, Nigeria: 5 catalogued departure corridors and 1 arrival corridor.
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Accra airport (ACC) — Kotoka International, Ghana: 11 catalogued departure corridors and 3 arrival corridors.
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Addis Ababa airport (ADD) — Bole International, Ethiopia: 13 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
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Casablanca airport (CMN) — Mohammed V International, Morocco: 17 catalogued departure corridors and 0 arrival corridors.
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Dakar airport (DSS) — Blaise Diagne International, Senegal: 4 catalogued departure corridors and 2 arrival corridors.
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Johannesburg airport (JNB) — O.R. Tambo International, South Africa: 39 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
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Lagos airport (LOS) — Murtala Muhammed International, Nigeria: 19 catalogued departure corridors and 2 arrival corridors.
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Nairobi airport (NBO) — Jomo Kenyatta International, Kenya: 19 catalogued departure corridors and 6 arrival corridors.
FAQ
Do I need a visa for United States? B1/B2 visitor visa unless your passport is from a Visa Waiver Program country
What currency is used in United States? United States uses USD. Plan on-the-ground spending in USD and compare airfares in USD.
How many routes go to United States from Africa? Our catalogue lists 13 routes to United States from 8 African airports — see the table above.
When are flights to United States cheapest? Book 3-5 months ahead. Fares climb steeply around the December holidays and the summer, when diaspora travel peaks.
Which airlines fly to United States? Carriers on routes to United States include Delta Air Lines, South African Airways, UA, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Air Senegal. See the per-route airlines in the table above.
How cheap are flights to United States? The lowest cached fare to United States in our weekly snapshot was about $756 on DSS-JFK — a dated observation, not a current price. Fares move with season; the route guides show each fare with the date it was found.
Search live fares
13 catalogued corridors into the United States means a live search will return several routings for the same dates; the lowest cached floor across them in our weekly snapshot was $756 — a dated observation, not a current price. Dates move the price more than any other variable. Fares across all 13 of those corridors are quoted in USD on this site so origins in different African markets stay comparable on one page.
Search flights to United States on Aviasales ->
Three checks make results comparable. Fix passenger count and cabin before comparing, because a per-passenger fare and a total look identical on a results page. Read the elapsed time next to the price — a one-stop routing into United States and a nonstop are different products. And check whether the fare includes the checked bag you will actually carry.
Scan the calendar, not the vendors. Between departure months our weekly log shows movement on these corridors well beyond anything that separates one booking gate from another, so a single flexible-date search outperforms repeated fixed-date ones. When the dates are fixed, earlier purchase is the only remaining lever.