Kotak Air+ Prime Credit Card Review 2026: 5 Air Miles on Unbox and Auto Dealers, 2% Forex, Lounges &
The Kotak Air+ Prime sits at the top of Kotak's Air Miles range. It pays 2 Air Miles per ₹100 on everything, 5 on flights and hotels booked through Kotak Unbox, and — the one thing the standard Air+ does not have — 5 on auto dealer merchants. Air Miles redeem at a clean 1 Air Mile = ₹1 against travel, the forex markup is 2%, and the fee is waived on ₹4 lakh of spend.
It is a well-built card with one large asterisk: international transactions earn no Air Miles at all.
Kotak Air+ Prime Quick Overview
| **Card type** | Travel rewards card |
|---|---|
| **Best for** | Frequent Unbox bookers who also spend at car dealerships |
| **Joining / annual fee** | ₹3,000 + GST. Annual fee waived on ₹4 lakh of eligible spend in an anniversary year |
| **Network** | Visa and RuPay |
| **Top reward rate** | 5% — 5 Air Miles per ₹100 on Kotak Unbox travel and on auto dealers |
| **Base reward rate** | 2% — 2 Air Miles per ₹100, uncapped |
| **Reward type** | Air Miles, 1 Air Mile = ₹1 on Kotak Unbox travel |
| **Welcome / renewal** | 3,000 Air Miles each (₹3,000) |
| **Lounge** | 4 domestic + 2 international a year, **no spend gate** |
| **Forex markup** | **2%** — but international spend earns nothing |
Reward Structure: How You Earn
| Spend | Air Miles per ₹100 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Flights, hotels and add-ons on **Kotak Unbox** | 5 | **5%** (capped) |
| **Auto dealer merchants** | 5 | **5%** (capped) |
| All other eligible spends | 2 | **2%** |
| Insurance (MCC 6300), first ₹25,000/cycle | 2 | 2% |
| Excluded categories and all international spend | 0 | **0%** |
The two caps are nothing alike
Both accelerated rates are structured the same way — 2 base Air Miles that always accrue, plus 3 incremental ones that are capped. But the caps are an order of magnitude apart:
| Cap per statement cycle | Binds at | |
|---|---|---|
| Kotak Unbox travel | 15,000 Air Miles | **₹5,00,000** of Unbox spend |
| Auto dealer merchants | 1,500 Air Miles | **₹50,000** of auto spend |
The travel cap is effectively unreachable. The auto cap is not — one dealership service bill, a set of tyres, or a single accessory purchase will exhaust it. Treat the auto category as 5% on the first ₹50,000 a month and 2% after, not as a headline rate.
Past either cap you keep the 2 base Air Miles, so the rate falls to 2%, not to zero. The T&C is explicit: "After hitting 15,000 Air Miles cap ... & 1,500 Air Miles cap on Auto Dealer Merchants, customers will still earn 2 Air Miles per ₹100 spent."
Auto dealers: the Prime's one real addition
Four MCCs:
| MCC | Description |
|---|---|
| 5013 | Motor vehicle supplies and new parts |
| 5511 | Car and truck dealers (new and used) — sales, service, repairs, parts, leasing |
| 5521 | Car and truck dealers (used only) |
| 5533 | Automotive parts and accessories stores |
This is the entire difference between the Air+ Prime and the standard Air+ on the earn side. If you do not spend at car dealers, you are paying the same ₹3,000 for the same card.
Where you book matters more than what you book
The 5% is a Kotak Unbox rate. The same flight booked on MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, an airline's own site or a hotel's website earns 2 Air Miles per ₹100, not 5. If you will not route bookings through Kotak's platform, this is a 2% card with a ₹3,000 fee.
International spend earns nothing — read this before you apply
The detailed T&C excludes international transactions from Air Miles accrual outright, alongside EMI and cash advances. The card page repeats it, directly under the section advertising the low forex markup: "Low Foreign Currency Mark-up of 2% on International Transactions. Note: No Air Miles will be accrued on International Transactions."
So the card's headline travel benefit and its headline earn rate do not overlap. The 2% markup is a genuine saving against Kotak's standard 3.50% — worth ₹1,500 on ₹1 lakh of foreign spend — but you are choosing between a cheap forex rate and an earn rate, not getting both.
Two smaller mechanics that cost you money
Air Miles accrue in whole ₹100 blocks. The transfer-ratio document says it plainly: transactions below ₹100, and the residual part of any transaction, earn nothing. A ₹199 purchase earns 1 Air Mile, not 1.99.
On the RuPay variant, UPI transactions of ₹2,000 or less are excluded entirely. This is unusual — most Kotak RuPay variants pay the base rate on UPI — and it means small everyday UPI spends earn nothing at all.
Worked example
A cardholder spending ₹12,00,000 in an anniversary year:
| Category | Annual spend | Air Miles | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights and hotels via Kotak Unbox | ₹3,00,000 | 15,000 | ₹15,000 |
| Auto dealer merchants | ₹60,000 | 2,700 | ₹2,700 |
| All other eligible spend | ₹8,40,000 | 16,800 | ₹16,800 |
| Renewal benefit | — | 3,000 | ₹3,000 |
| **Total** | **₹12,00,000** | **37,500** | **₹37,500** |
That is 3.1% gross. The ₹3,000 fee is waived at this spend level, so it is 3.1% net too. Note the auto line: ₹60,000 of spend earns 2,700 Air Miles rather than 3,000, because the first ₹50,000 earns 5 per ₹100 and the last ₹10,000 only 2.
Redeeming Air Miles
On Kotak Unbox:
- Flights, hotels and add-ons — 1 Air Mile = ₹1. The rate the card is designed around.
- Instant vouchers — 1 Air Mile = ₹0.50. Half the value.
- Transfers to partners — see below.
Minimum 200 Air Miles per redemption, and Air Miles may cover at most 80% of the booking value, so you always pay at least a fifth in cash.
Air Miles expire 3 years from accrual.
One caution: the card page prints "Instant Voucher Purchase: 1 Air Mile = ₹5", which would make vouchers five times better than travel. That is a typo. The detailed T&C and the FAQ both say ₹0.5.
Transfer partners
| Partner | Loyalty programme | Ratio | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air India | Maharaja Club | 2:1 | Airline |
| British Airways | Executive Club | 2:1 | Airline |
| Cathay Pacific | Asia Miles | 2:1 | Airline |
| Air France | Flying Blue | 2:1 | Airline |
| United Airlines | MileagePlus | 2:1 | Airline |
| Qatar Airways | Privilege Club | 2:1 | Airline |
| Air Canada | Aeroplan | 2:1 | Airline |
| Etihad Airways | Etihad Guest | 2:1 | Airline |
| Accor | ALL – Accor Live Limitless | 2:1 | Hotel |
| Marriott | Marriott Bonvoy | 3:1 | Hotel |
Minimum 1,000 Air Miles per transfer, and — unlike the Kotak Air card's 1,00,000-a-year ceiling — no maximum cap.
Be clear what the ratios cost. At 2:1 you give up ₹2 of guaranteed Unbox value per partner mile; at 3:1 for Marriott, ₹3. Transfer only if you have a specific high-value award booking priced out. For almost everyone, booking through Unbox at ₹1 is better.
Lounge Access
Primary cardholders only, and — refreshingly — no spend gate on either programme, unlike the Kotak Air (₹60,000 a quarter) and Kotak Biz (₹75,000).
Domestic: 4 complimentary visits per calendar year, capped at 2 per calendar quarter. ₹2 validation charge per visit; visits beyond the quota at market price.
International: 2 complimentary visits per calendar year through Priority Pass, with no quarterly cap — both can be taken in the same trip. $1 validation charge, auto-reversed within 7 working days; $35 per visit thereafter. You must enable international POS and online transactions on the card for the validation charge to go through.
Welcome and Renewal Benefits
3,000 Air Miles as a welcome benefit, credited within 120 days of issuance and only on payment of the joining fee.
3,000 Air Miles as a renewal benefit, credited within 30 days of paying each year's annual fee.
There is a neat arithmetic trap here. At ₹1 an Air Mile the renewal benefit is worth exactly the ₹3,000 annual fee. So clearing the ₹4 lakh spend waiver saves you the fee but costs you the 3,000 Air Miles — the two cancel, and the waiver wins only by the GST on the fee. Do not chase the waiver expecting a ₹3,000 gain.
Unlike the IndiGo Kotak cards, these are Air Miles rather than vouchers: they do not expire in six months and are not consumed in one booking.
Category Restrictions: Where You Won't Earn
From the card's own detailed T&C:
| Category | MCCs |
|---|---|
| Utility and telecom | 4812, 4814, 4899, 4900 |
| Insurance | 5960, 6381, 6399 (and 6300 above ₹25,000/cycle) |
| Education and government | 8211, 8220, 8241, 8244, 8249, 8299, 9211, 9222, 9223, 9311, 9399, 9402, 9405, 9950 |
| Rent | 6513 |
| Fuel | 5172, 5541, 5542, 5552, 5983 |
| Wallet loading | 6540 |
| Gaming and gaming digital | 5816, 7994 |
Plus, in words: EMI transactions, cash advances and all international transactions.
Insurance is capped rather than excluded, and this is easy to misread. MCC 6300 earns the 2 Air Mile base rate on the first ₹25,000 of insurance spend in a statement cycle and nothing above it. The other three insurance codes — 5960, 6381, 6399 — earn nothing at any level.
Fuel earns nothing despite the generous surcharge waiver, because fuel MCCs are on the exclusion list.
Fees and Charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Joining fee | ₹3,000 + GST |
| Annual fee | ₹3,000 + GST — waived on ₹4 lakh of eligible spend in an anniversary year |
| Finance charges | **3.50% per month (42.00% per annum)** — reduced from Kotak's 3.75% norm |
| Interest-free period | Up to 51 days |
| Minimum amount due | 1% of purchases and cash advances + 100% of EMI, interest, fees and tax, minimum ₹100 |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5% of the amount, minimum ₹500 |
| **Forex markup** | **2%** |
| Dynamic currency conversion | **2%** |
| Late payment | Nil up to ₹100, rising in slabs to ₹1,300 above ₹50,000 |
| Over-limit | ₹500 |
| Rent payment fee | 1% + GST on every MCC 6513 transaction |
| **Utility fee** | 1% above **₹75,000** per statement cycle |
| **Fuel fee** | 1% above **₹50,000** per statement cycle |
| Wallet loading fee | 1% above ₹10,000 per statement cycle |
| Online gaming fee | 1% above ₹10,000 per statement cycle |
| Card replacement | ₹100 |
| GST | 18% on all fees, interest and charges |
The special-category thresholds are the most generous in Kotak's range — ₹75,000 for utilities and ₹50,000 for fuel, against ₹35,000 and ₹25,000 on the Cashback+ cards. Neither category earns Air Miles regardless.
The fee waiver is stated in the card's own T&C, not just the MITC: "Subject to customer making annual spends of ₹4 Lakhs in an anniversary year, annual fees will be waived off." Excluded from that calculation: rent, wallet, utility/telecom and education. Note that Kotak's MITC footnote names a fifth category, transportation, for this card — so rail, metro, bus and toll spend may not count either.
Kotak Air+ Prime is not eligible for the railway surcharge waiver, though it is eligible for the fuel one — 1% on ₹400–₹7,500 transactions, capped at ₹4,500 in an anniversary year.
Air+ Prime vs Air+ vs Air
| Kotak Air | Kotak Air+ | Kotak Air+ Prime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | ₹999 | ₹3,000 | ₹3,000 |
| Fee waiver | ₹2.5 lakh | ₹4 lakh | ₹4 lakh |
| Base rate | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Unbox travel | 3% (cap 5,000/cycle) | 5% (cap 15,000/cycle) | 5% (cap 15,000/cycle) |
| Auto dealers | — | — | **5% (cap 1,500/cycle)** |
| Insurance | Excluded | Excluded | **2% up to ₹25,000/cycle** |
| Welcome / renewal | 1,000 miles | 2,500 miles | **3,000 miles** |
| Domestic lounge | 4/year, ₹60k/qtr gate | 4/year, no gate | 4/year, no gate |
| International lounge | None | 2/year | 2/year |
| Forex | 3.50% | 2% | 2% |
| Transfer partners | 8 | 11 | 10 |
The Prime costs the same as the Air+ and adds the auto category, capped insurance earning and 500 more welcome and renewal Air Miles. If you spend at car dealerships, take the Prime. If you do not, the difference is 500 Air Miles a year in each of welcome and renewal — and the Air+ has one more transfer partner.
Who Should Get the Kotak Air+ Prime
Good fit if:
- You book flights and hotels through Kotak Unbox and will keep doing so
- You own a car and spend at dealerships, service centres or parts stores
- You want lounge access without a quarterly spend gate hanging over it
- You will clear ₹4 lakh of eligible spend a year, or are happy to pay ₹3,000 for what the card delivers
- You spend abroad and want the 2% markup — knowing that spend earns nothing
Look elsewhere if:
- You book travel through OTAs or direct — you'd be earning 2%, not 5%
- A large share of your spend is international — no Air Miles on any of it
- You don't own a car — the Prime's only real addition over the Air+ is wasted on you
- Utilities, insurance, education, government, rent or fuel dominate your spend — all excluded or tightly capped
- ₹3,000 is more than you want to commit and you don't book much travel — the ₹999 Kotak Air is the same idea at a third of the price
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the joining and annual fee? ₹3,000 + GST for both, with the annual fee waived on ₹4 lakh of eligible spend in an anniversary year.
How much is an Air Mile worth? ₹1 against flights, hotels and add-ons on Kotak Unbox. ₹0.50 on instant vouchers — the card page's "₹5" is a typo. Partner transfers have no published rupee value.
Do Air Miles expire? Yes, 3 years from the date of accrual.
Do international transactions earn Air Miles? No. They are excluded outright, alongside EMI transactions and cash advances. The 2% forex markup is a saving on the cost side only.
What is the auto dealer cap? 1,500 Air Miles per statement cycle, which binds at ₹50,000 of auto spend. Past it you still earn the 2 Air Mile base rate.
Does insurance earn anything? MCC 6300 earns 2 Air Miles per ₹100 on the first ₹25,000 of insurance spend per statement cycle, and nothing above. MCCs 5960, 6381 and 6399 earn nothing at all.
Is there a spend requirement for lounge access? No. Both the 4 domestic and 2 international visits a year are unconditional, unlike the Kotak Air's ₹60,000-a-quarter gate.
Can I transfer Air Miles to airlines? Yes, to eight airlines and two hotel groups, at 2:1 or 3:1. Minimum 1,000 Air Miles per transfer and no maximum cap.
Should I chase the ₹4 lakh fee waiver? Only for the GST. The renewal benefit of 3,000 Air Miles is worth ₹3,000 and is paid only if you pay the fee, so the waiver and the benefit almost exactly cancel.
Does UPI earn Air Miles? On the RuPay variant, UPI transactions above ₹2,000 earn the base rate. Transactions of ₹2,000 or less are excluded entirely.
Fees, rates and benefits verified against the Kotak Air+ Prime Credit Card product page, the detailed product T&C, the Air Miles transfer-ratio schedule, the card FAQ, Kotak's complimentary airport lounge access terms and the Kotak credit-card MITC, as at 23 September 2026. Where the card page and the detailed T&C disagree — on the instant voucher rate — the T&C is followed. Confirm current terms before applying.
Cards Mentioned in This Article
