I recently traveled to South Africa myself, on United's inaugural flight from Newark (EWR) to Johannesburg (JNB). I'm fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine, and with the extra precautions I took while visiting the country and on the flight home, I felt comfortable venturing out on a solo outdoor-focused tour.
I didn't encounter many international tourists on the ground, though, and it seems United Airlines isn't expecting demand to recover anytime soon. As a result, the return of United's seasonal flight between Newark and Cape Town (CPT) has been pushed back by several weeks, and the carrier is scaling back its Newark-Johannesburg service as well.
United's Cape Town flight was originally expected to return in October. Now, it's scheduled to resume on Dec. 1 — the beginning of South Africa's summer — and will operate three days per week through March 25, 2022.
Newark-Johannesburg, meanwhile, has been flying daily since it launched in June. As of now, it'll move to five days a week after Sept. 7, with daily service expected to return on Dec. 1. From September through November, it'll fly from Newark every day but Monday and Wednesday — factoring in the date change en-route, it won't fly from Johannesburg on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
If you've already booked your flight and you've been impacted by the delayed Cape Town launch, I recommend calling United reservations and asking an agent to rebook you on a connecting trip through Johannesburg, instead. If your flight has been canceled, you're also entitled to a full refund to your original form of payment, if you prefer.
Meanwhile, if your Newark-Johannesburg flight has been canceled, you shouldn't have any problem moving to the same flight a day before or after — just give United reservations a call at 800-864-8331 to get rebooked.
