✈ CPT → SFO
20H 23M IN ECONOMY = A FELONY AGAINST YOURSELF. UPGRADE.
Flight from Cape Town to San Francisco
From Cape Town International (CPT), South Africa Africa → SFO (SFO), USA North America
How long is the flight from Cape Town to San Francisco?
A nonstop flight from Cape Town (CPT) to San Francisco (SFO) takes about 20 hours 23 minutes, covering a great-circle distance of 10,251 miles (16,498 km). Actual scheduled time varies by airline, routing, and wind — expect ±15 to 30 minutes from this estimate.
Avg flight time
20h 23m
Nonstop, scheduled
Distance
10,251 mi
16,498 km · great-circle
Avg speed
809 km/h
Door-to-door including taxi
Time zones & jet lag
Cape Town timezone
UTC+2
Africa/Johannesburg
San Francisco timezone
UTC-7
America/Los_Angeles
Time difference
-9h
9 hours behind
Jet lag (rough)
~6.3d
Westward — easier
CO₂ footprint per passenger
Economy class, single passenger. Source: DEFRA 2024 averages.
This flight emits roughly 3.6× the CO₂ of an equivalent train trip and 0.9× a car driven alone over the same distance.