$588 Find Cheap Flights from South Africa to Chicago

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight to Chicago departing on 6/17. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to Chicago

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Chicago, as well as popular online travel agencies
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Chicago, as well as popular online travel agencies
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Flight Deals

Cheap Flights from South Africa to Chicago

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from South Africa to Chicago that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent round-trip flight deals from South Africa to Chicago

Wed, Jun 24 - Fri, Jul 24
Etihad Airways Logo
9:50 am - 8:35 am
JNB
-
ORD
29h 45m
1 stop
Etihad Airways Logo
9:10 pm - 8:20 am
ORD
-
JNB
28h 10m
1 stop
$931Etihad Airways
Wed, Jun 24 - Fri, Jul 24
Etihad Airways Logo
9:50 am - 8:35 am
JNB
-
ORD
29h 45m
1 stop
Etihad Airways Logo
9:10 pm - 8:20 am
ORD
-
JNB
28h 10m
1 stop
$934Etihad Airways
Mon, Sep 21 - Wed, Sep 30
Etihad Airways Logo
9:50 am - 3:40 pm
JNB
-
ORD
36h 50m
1 stop
Etihad Airways Logo
2:00 pm - 8:20 am
ORD
-
JNB
35h 20m
1 stop
$977Etihad Airways
Tue, Jun 9 - Tue, Jun 16
Qatar Airways Logo
7:50 pm - 4:50 pm
JNB
-
ORD
28h 00m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
7:20 pm - 9:00 am
ORD
-
JNB
30h 40m
1 stop
$1,033Qatar Airways
Thu, Jun 11 - Thu, Jun 18
Qatar Airways Logo
7:50 pm - 4:50 pm
JNB
-
ORD
28h 00m
1 stop
Qatar Airways Logo
7:20 pm - 9:00 am
ORD
-
JNB
30h 40m
1 stop
$1,035Qatar Airways
Mon, Sep 21 - Wed, Sep 30
Kenya Airways Logo
5:00 pm - 5:41 pm
JNB
-
ORD
31h 41m
2 stops
Kenya Airways Logo
6:00 am - 3:50 pm
ORD
-
JNB
26h 50m
2 stops
$1,041Kenya Airways
Mon, Sep 21 - Wed, Sep 30
Delta Logo
8:25 pm - 6:31 pm
JNB
-
MDW
29h 06m
2 stops
Delta Logo
6:00 am - 7:40 pm
MDW
-
JNB
30h 40m
1 stop
$1,345Delta
Mon, Jul 20 - Mon, Aug 17
Delta Logo
8:25 pm - 6:25 pm
JNB
-
MDW
29h 00m
2 stops
Delta Logo
6:00 am - 7:40 pm
MDW
-
JNB
30h 40m
1 stop
$1,347Delta
Wed, Jun 10 - Wed, Jun 17
KLM Logo
11:15 pm - 6:18 pm
JNB
-
MDW
26h 03m
2 stops
KLM Logo
1:16 pm - 9:20 pm
MDW
-
JNB
25h 04m
2 stops
$1,433KLM
Mon, May 18 - Thu, May 28
KLM Logo
11:15 pm - 5:56 pm
JNB
-
MDW
25h 41m
2 stops
KLM Logo
1:22 pm - 9:20 pm
MDW
-
JNB
24h 58m
2 stops
$1,435KLM
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to Chicago

Get data-powered insights and trends for flights to Chicago to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest flight to Chicago?

These are the best round-trip prices found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 72 hours.

In the last 3 days, the cheapest flight deal to Chicago was found on the route from Johannesburg, at $931 return. The most popular connection is from New York to Chicago and KAYAK users have found round-trip deals for as low as $143 in the last 3 days.

What is the cheapest month to fly to Chicago?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for flights to Chicago, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights to Chicago is February, where tickets cost $896 on average for return flights. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and December, where the average cost of tickets from South Africa is $1,168 and $1,154 respectively. For one-way flights, the best month to travel is February with an average price of $896.

How far in advance should I book a flight to Chicago?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights to Chicago, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 13% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 9 weeks before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in Chicago?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in Chicago is Chicago Greater Rockford Airport (RFD), with an average flight price of $152.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$588
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 4% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 7% increase in price.
Flight from Johannesburg to Chicago O'Hare Airport

FAQs - booking Chicago flights

  • What is the cheapest flight to Chicago?

    In the last 3 days, the cheapest flight deal to Chicago was found on the route from Johannesburg, at $931 return. The most popular connection is from New York to Chicago and KAYAK users have found round-trip deals for as low as $143 in the last 3 days.

  • Which Chicago airport is closest to central Chicago?

    9 miles away from Chicago’s city center, Chicago Midway Airport is the closest of the 3 major airports in the city. There are 16 miles separating Chicago city center to Chicago O'Hare Airport, and 79 miles to Chicago Greater Rockford.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights to Chicago?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights to Chicago.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket to Chicago?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Chicago is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights to Chicago?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Chicago with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight to Chicago?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Chicago up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • How many direct flights to Chicago are there each week?

    Each week there are around 39,434 direct flights from within South Africa to Chicago. The most common day for departures is Sunday, with 16% of flights taking off on this day.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Chicago

  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest Chicago flight deals.

Reviews of the top 3 airlines serving from South Africa to Chicago

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to Chicago. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from South Africa to Chicago. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with to Chicago? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7.9
DeltaOverall score based on 8464 reviews
7.8Entertainment
8.1Boarding
7.2Food
7.9Comfort
8.5Crew
Airline reviews

Round trip flight to Canada and back to the US was smooth and efficient.

8.0 ExcellentBrent, Apr 2026
YWG - MSP
Read more Delta reviews

Round trip flight to Canada and back to the US was smooth and efficient.

The agent at check in and at the gate were less than thrilled to be at work. I'm not a fan of Kayak's placement on the plane. I got put in the middle seat and none of my preferences were used.

Spanish speaker flight attendants were incredibly rude. A male flight attendant named Allen, grabbed my bag out of the overhead bin and moved it without my permission. When I asked what he was doing, he informed me that the overhead bins were public space? It would be easy to ignore this comment, as you don’t know the whole story, but the flight attendants were militant and rude. Delta, you can do better!

In ATL they have two sets of departure screens. Follow what is on your airline's departure board - the ATL Airport Authority departure board had completely incorrect details about the gate assignment for my flight, which would have made me miss boarding.

Flight was delayed it was hot while sitting on the plane, one engine was working on the plane until they had to do some jimmy rigging down the runway in order for the other engine to charge up. It was ridiculous

The flight was very good and the staff was very friendly and helpful!

The only thing I would say is we tried to get on a standby earlier flight, but with our fair we couldn’t. That seems senseless to leave with open seats..

Very easy to use and convenient, you can perform any action within the same portal

In a world of delays, Delta was on time both ways! Boarding was fast and efficient. Staff was friendly. AND wifi worked.

My business class seat was inoperable and unable to recline for 10 hour flight.

The crew were unprofessional with a racist element. I was physically abused as well from one of the crew members

Crew is not the cheerful type. very slow meal service (this is their style as have flown this many times)

Flight was ok but lack of communication cost me to literally beg to be put on another flight as connecting flight had departed

They forgot to serve food and the crew was very unfriendly. Never experienced such a bad KLM flight. Usually fly from Toronto. New York was different.

Couldn’t get boarding pass in SLC even with help from a redcoat, so had to find a desk in AMS to get boarding pass. Technical problems so not sure why. Very inconvenient. The KLM app is not as user friendly as most apps. Also had to wait almost an hour on the tarmac for a fuel truck, which caused us to miss a connecting bus in LUX.

The immigration hall in Amsterdam was understaffed, so passport checking was slower than it should be for a major airport. They need to get the automatic readers up and running for non EU passport holders. Waiting in line after a long flight feels a bit abusive.

Short flight so it was okay. Nice crew, all very pleasant and professional. We were near the back in row 27 so just as we got our drinks, we started our descent so had to drink very quickly!

KLM remains a quality flag carrier airline which maintains its standards whilst all their competitors are lowering theirs.

Our first flight was delayed so we missed our connecting flight. However it was easy to book a later flight on their app.

The service was great. However the lounge only gets passing grade

Flight crew was super friendly and helpful. Food was frequent and honestly pretty good. Plenty of on-board entertainment. Economy seats are super cramped for such a long flight, but the crew allowed people to get up and stretch, and kids could wander with their parents, so we all made it work. Overall a very good experience.

Standard flight with a drinks and a snack- overall very quick flight. The flight attendants were very strict, bordered on rude.

Starlink is great Crew was polite Business class didn’t get a welcome drink just water and snacks were ok

Delayed - weather wasn't bad at either end. Also sat on tarmac in ORD.

very average service no complimentary alcoholics drinks unlike other airlines such as Porter airlines No decent seats available during check-in time the day before

boarded early to only find out that flight would sit at gate for 45 min to an hour. Landed in chicago and sat on runway for over an hour before got to gate. Total delay was extensive for a 45 min flight door to door.

The flight was significantly delayed. The inbound flight from EWR was delayed departing because of mechanical problems. My original departure from CLT was 5:28 pm but due to the delay of the inbound flight, after arrival, deplaning, cleaning, boarding, we did not push back from the gate until 9:00 pm. Once in the air, the flight was smooth and what was originally supposed to be an arrival in ORD at 7:30 pm local time turned out to be 9:35 pm.

The flight I was supposed to be on was supposed to take off at 1:50 from State College. It was delayed over and over and over again until somehow I had to rebook on a flight that was supposed to have left State College at 8 am that morning but didn't end up taking off until almost 6 pm. Not only was this completely unacceptable, the "token from United" was a 15 dollar meal voucher that has to be used by today. I would personally like some miles added to my account for this inconvenience. I was in transit for 8 hours from the time I arrive at State College Aiport to when I got home. I was supposed to be home at 3 pm and I returned at 8 pm. Unacceptable. I have not been on an on Time united flight in nearly 5 years.

newer aircraft, ability to connect my headset via blue tooth for entertainment.

Very comfortable flight, snacks and drinks were good, good communication from crew. Could have used a little more information on timing of boarding for group 5

Traveling to a place near Chicago?

Book flights to Chicago if you plan to visit one of these locations
Merrillville
Saint Joseph
Hammond
Portage
Lansing
Valparaiso
Chesterton
Schererville
Munster
Porter
Monticello
Saint John
Griffith

Everything you need to know for your flight to Chicago

Cabin class types available on flights to Chicago

Cabin classes available on flights to Chicago. Prices are the lowest found on KAYAK over the last 7 days. Price and availability is not guaranteed.