Best ways to get to Africa using points and miles

by Zac Hood | Jan 18, 2023 | Destinations, Redeeming Miles and Points

From the bustling markets of Marrakech to the majestic safaris of South Africa, Africa offers a plethora of unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re aiming to witness the Great Migration across the Serengeti or relax on the beaches of the Seychelles, this guide outlines the most effective ways to reach Africa using points and miles.

Welcome to our series on how to get to the regions of the world using points and miles. The article below focuses on Africa using miles – including the best mileage deals to the region using various credit card transfer partners. Please use this as a guide to finding some great deals. If you’re interested in other regions, choose from the articles below. Other destinations:

Table of Contents

Transferable Currencies

If you want to use airline miles, it’s great to have transferable points. Transferable point programs let you transfer your points to any of a number of airline programs. This is great because it gives you the freedom to book many different flights through many different methods, some of which are strikingly cheaper than others. If you’re not familiar with transferable points programs, please check out our guides:

Updated 2025 with award chart changes, surcharge information, and cancellation policies.

Read this first: Award Booking Advice

Quick disclaimer: If you struggle to find award flights, want to save time, or feel overwhelmed reading this article, I highly recommend checking out a tool that can search award flights for you. This can turn a beginner into an expert without spending 10,000 hours. Using an award booking search tool can be a huge time saver, while also erasing the learning curve.

There are some great tools out there. Lately, my favorite tool for beginners is PointsYeah.com. It is really fast, includes multiple-date searches, and has a free version! I previously recommended Point.me as my favorite, and I still think it is the best for step-by-step tutorials for the absolute award booking and points transfer beginner. But, you’ll quickly grow frustrated by how slow each search takes with Point.me, and you have to search one day at a time.

Read our review of Point.me here. If you want to check out the tool, here is our link to sign up for point.me. You can use the promo code TRAVELFREELY5 to get your first month for $5. To get the deal, select the Standard Plan (don’t select “I Have a code”). When you reach the checkout page, enter TRAVELFREELY5 and the $12 per month will become $5 (or use the code TRAVELFREELY20 to receive a 20% discount if you choose the annual plan).

Geography: Not a loyalty program strong suit

The deals below have been listed alphabetically. As you click on the provided links and conduct your search, it’s important to remember that the lowest price isn’t the entire picture: be sure to consider baggage fees, which airlines levy fuel surcharges, and how easily you can accumulate miles for your chosen award.

See each description for where to search, how to book, and which partners you can use to transfer. It is always best to confirm seat availability before transferring miles to be sure that the award you seek can be booked with the miles you plan to use.

It’s worth noting here that most airline programs roughly split up North Africa from South or South and Central Africa, offering different prices depending on where you’re going in Africa. However, note that there are some programs that include Morocco in Europe and others that consider Egypt to be part of the Middle East. Those kinds of classifications can sometimes lead to sweet spots for getting to a continent, which you may then leverage with a sweet spot for travel within a single continent or region.

Best ways to get to Africa using airline miles (in economy class)

Air France/Flying Blue

The short story: Monthly Flying Blue Promo Awards can sometimes offer excellent value between the US and Europe and Flying Blue considers several countries located in North Africa to be part of its “Europe” pricing model (including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and the Canary Islands). Once in Africa, keep Flying Blue in mind for intra-Africa awards on Kenya Airways.
Miles required: Varies. Economy class awards to Europe (including those North African countries listed above) are often available from as low as 10K-15K points one way during Promo Rewards sales from select airports.
How to find awards: Search for available space at AirFrance.us (you’ll need to create a free Flying Blue frequent flyer account to search)
How to book awards: Book online at AirFrance.com. Can also book via phone or app.
Change and cancellation fees: €70.
Key warnings: Flying Blue does add fuel surcharges, though they are often reasonable.
Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Marriott Bonvoy, Wells Fargo.

Alaska Mileage Plan

The short story: Alaska Mileage Plan can be good value for travel between the US and Africa in economy when you consider that they allow a stopover even on a one-way award.
Miles required: 27.5K – 42.5K each way in economy class, including a stopover.
How to find awards: Search for available space at AlaskaAir.com.
How to book awards: Book at AlaskaAir.com. For more complicated itineraries, bookings can be made over the phone with the Alaska Mileage Plan at 1-800-252-7522.
Key warnings: Alaska may have access to one fewer seat than what you see through other oneworld programs.
Transfer from: Bilt, Marriott Bonvoy

American Airlines AAdvantage

The short story: American charges 40K each way in economy class and allows a routing exception so you can fly on either Qatar or Etihad to get to Africa. Flying to Morocco? AA classifies this country as part of Europe, allowing you to fly Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca for 30K one-way.
Miles required: 40K miles each way in economy class to Africa (or 30K miles each way in economy class to Morocco).
How to find awards: Search for available space at AA.com. Alternatively, use the British Airways site to find space on Qatar and Etihad’s site to search for “Saver Guest” space on Etihad.
How to book awards: Book online at AA.com or over the phone.
Change and cancellation fees: Note that Web Specials/Basic Economy can not be changed, but can be cancelled and redeposited without a fee.
Key warnings: Finding space can be tough, but if you can find it this can be an excellent use of American Airlines miles.
Transfer from: Marriott Bonvoy

ANA Mileage Club

The short story:ANA has the hands-down cheapest award pricing between North America and Africa/Middle East on Star Alliance airlines (note that they include almost all of Africa in their definition).
Miles required: 70K round trip in economy class. Fuel surcharges are passed on, but can be avoided with the right partners. Check with your desired Star Alliance airline for up to date fuel surcharge fees.
How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or ANA’s website (though ANA requires searches to be round trip, so it is easier to find availability by searching one way at United first).
How to book awards: Book online at ANA’s website.
Change and cancellation fees: free to change / 3,000 miles per passenger to cancel
Key warnings:You must book round trip. High fuel surcharges are assessed by some carriers, others have none or low fuel surcharges (avoid Lufthansa-group airlines to avoid high fuel surcharges). The ANA website interface is not particularly user-friendly or modern-looking, so it may take some time to get used to the search features.
No fuel surcharges on: Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Copa Airlines, United
Low fuel surcharges on: ANA, Asiana, LOT Polish, Turkish (higher than the others but low by comparison to some)
Transfer from: Amex, Marriott

Avianca LifeMiles

The short story: Avianca LifeMiles offers competitive pricing for Star Alliance awards with no fuel surcharges.
Miles required: Officially, 40K each way in economy class to South Africa (which includes most of Africa) or 42.5K each way to North Africa (and the Middle East). Note that there is sometimes variance (See: The secret LifeMiles award chart), though we are not aware of any such pricing anomalies to Africa.
How to find awards: Search for available space at LifeMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Avianca LifeMiles frequent flyer account).
How to book awards: Book online at LifeMiles.com. Can also book via email. Phone bookings are known to be a hassle but also possible.
Change and cancellation fees: Theoretically $50 within a region, though flights between regions can cost $200 to cancel.
Key warnings:
- Availability at LifeMiles.com often doesn’t match what you’ll find at United.com or Aeroplan. Phone agents usually do not see better availability than what is shown at LifeMiles.com. While it can be possible to book via E-mail, it is very slow and frustrating. ALWAYS check the LifeMiles site before transferring points.
- LifeMiles expire after 12 months of inactivity. Redeeming Miles does NOT count as activity, but buying miles or transferring from a bank partner does.
Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Wells Fargo. Also can transfer from Marriott Bonvoy.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

The short story: Cathay Pacific has reasonable pricing for single-partner oneworld redemptions, particularly those requiring connections since they charge based on cumulative distance.
Miles required: 27K miles one-way for a cumulative distance of 2,751 to 5,000 miles, or 40K one-way for up to 7,500 miles.
How to find awards: Search for available space at AsiaMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Asia Miles frequent flyer account to search)
How to book awards: Book online at AsiaMiles.com. Can also book via phone.
Change and cancellation fees: $50 or 7,500 miles if done online / $90 or 13,500 miles if done over the phone (fees are per person, per sector) for changes. $120 or 17,000 miles to cancel.
Key warnings: Fuel surcharges are moderate depending on route and origin.
Transfer from: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy

Etihad Guest

While the Royal Air Maroc sweet spot has soured a bit, Etihad still offers a competitive rate to Casablanca.

The short story: Etihad Guest offers a good value for flying on Royal Air Maroc between the US and Casablanca.
Miles required: 28K miles each way in economy class plus about $120 in fuel surcharges one-way between North America and Casablanca.
How to find awards: Search for award space at RoyalAirMaroc.com. You’ll need to create a free Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer account to search.
How to book awards: Call Etihad Guest at 1-877-690-0767.
Change and cancellation fees: Etihad has a punitive cancellation policy for all award bookings whereby you’ll lose a significant chunk of miles for cancelling your flight. If you cancel more than 21 days in advance, you’ll lose 25% of the miles used. If you cancel between 7 and 21 days in advance, you’ll lose 50% of the miles used. If you cancel within 7 days but at least 24 hours in advance, you’ll lose 75% of the miles used. Within 24 hours of departure, you’ll lose 100% of the miles used.
Key warnings: Etihad also has a brutal expiration policy: miles will are valid for a period of 18 months, and that can only be extended if you take a flight with Etihad or a partner airline and credit it to Etihad Guest.
Transfer from: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt, Capital One, Citi ThankYou Points, Marriott Bonvoy

United Mileage Plus

The short story: United offers a benefit called the “Excursionist Perk”, which gives you a free one-way within a single region when your travel begins and ends in the same region. United partners with Egypt Air, South African, and Ethiopian, as well as a number of European partners that serve Africa, which should give you ample opportunity to take advantage of the Excursionist perk.
Miles required: From 40K miles each way in economy class
How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com
How to book awards: Book online at United.com
Change and cancellation fees: There are no fees to change or cancel award tickets.
Key warnings: United has eliminated its award chart, but partner flights have thus far mostly remained at previous levels. One exception is that flights within 21 days of departure now cost 3K extra miles for a total of 43K each way in economy class in this case.
Transfer from: Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy

Virgin Atlantic (for Air France/KLM)

The short story: Virgin Atlantic sometimes offers better pricing for Air France and KLM business class awards than what Flying Blue does for the same flights.
Miles required:
- East Coast North America & Caribbean (Zone 6) to:
  - Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa, which includes Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia): 20K miles each way off-peak / 30K peak
  - Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia, which includes Egypt): 25K off-peak / 35K peak
  - Zone 4 (Central Africa): 24.5K off-peak / 34.5K peak
  - Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean & Indian Subcontinent): 28K off-peak / 38K peak

- West & Central North America & Central America (Zone 7) to:
  - Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa, which includes Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia): 23K miles each way off-peak / 33K peak
  - Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia, which includes Egypt): 28K off-peak / 38K peak
  - Zone 4 (Central Africa): 28K off-peak / 38K peak
  - Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean & Indian Subcontinent): 31K off-peak / 41K peak
How to find awards: Search for available space at VirginAtlantic.com
How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com.
Key warnings: The zone-based award chart for Air France / KLM flights can be a bit confusing at first, but the nice thing about booking Air France / KLM flights with Virgin Atlantic miles is that Virgin Atlantic does not charge each segment separately as they do with other partners or their own flights. In this case, you’ll pay the region prices even if connecting.
Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Citi, Chase, Capital One, Marriott, Wells Fargo

Business Class / First Class

Air Canada Aeroplan

The short story: Air Canada Aeroplan includes Africa in its “Atlantic” zone, meaning that the award pricing range matches that to Europe and you could even add a stopover in Europe en route to Africa for 5K additional miles one-way. Lap infants are just 2,500 miles.
Miles required: Ranges from 60K to 110K in business class based on distance (add 5K miles for a stopover). First-class ranges from 90K-140K one way. Add 5,000 miles for a stopover on a one-way.
How to find awards: Search for available space at AirCanada.com (you’ll need to create a free Aeroplan frequent flyer account to search)
How to book awards: Book online at AirCanada.com. Can also book via phone. Lap infants must be added to your reservation over the phone.
Change and cancellation fees: Changes cost “$100” for “Lowest” fare awards; there’s no fee to change Flex or Latitude awards. Cancellations cost $150 for most standard awards if done online at AirCanada.com (or $175 online for most awards via a call center). Other flex awards are free to change or cancel.
Fuel surcharges: Aeroplan no longer adds fuel surcharges to awards.
Transfer from: Amex, Chase, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Marriott