The Big Picture

Wide open availability to many destinations in Africa including South Africa, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Seychelles, and more! Between January and May 2025 there is tons of availability flying on Ethiopian Airlines from Newark, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, and Toronto in business for as low as 88,000 per person each way through United. If you want to see where else you can connect to from ADD, use FlightConnection to see what routes Ethiopian Airlines flies.

If you intend to book as a roundtrip through United, keep in mind you can add a free stopover within Central and South Africa by booking as a multi-city utilizing United’s excursionist perk. This makes it possible to have the best of both worlds and experience both safaris and luxury beaches. Similarly, Air Canada also allows stopovers on each one-way or round trip ticket for as little as 5,000 extra points per person.

United is a transfer partner of Chase and Bilt. If you don’t have Chase or Bilt, you can book through other Star Alliance partners like Air Canada for 90,000-110,000 per person each way. If you prefer to use AMEX points, you may also book as a roundtrip through ANA for as low as 130,000 per person roundtrip! Please it would take at least two days for your points to transfer to ANA.

Expect taxes to be between $5-50 per person each way.

Available Dates

Wide open availability! Regardless of which program you book through, United’s low fare calendar will make finding availability a breeze since you can view the whole month at once unlike Air Canada or ANA. Once you find saver award availability on United’s calendar (flying Ethiopian), you can confirm availability on Air Canada (or ANA, transfer points and book!

Step 1: search from NYC, IAD, ATL, ORD, YYZ  to ADD* (or final destination) on United.  Check the “book with miles” and “flexible dates” box.

*some other destination may include DAR, CPT, JNB, NOS, VFA, KGL, JRO, NBO, EBB, SEZ, ZNZ, HAH, WDH

Step 2: If booking through another program, re-confirm availability before transferring points and booking!