Kotak Air+ Credit Card Review: A Low-Forex Miles Card With a Fixed ₹3,000 Fee

The Kotak Air+ Credit Card is Kotak's entry-level travel-miles card. It earns Air Miles, pays accelerated miles on flights and hotels booked through the Kotak Unbox travel portal, and charges a 2% forex markup, noticeably lower than the 3.5% most mass-market cards charge. The fee is a fixed ₹3,000 a year with no way to waive it through spending. On paper it's a sensible travel card. In practice, the fixed fee, modest lounge allowance and long exclusion list make it harder to recommend than some rivals at the same price.

Fees and eligibility at a glance

The joining fee and annual fee are both ₹3,000, and there is no spend-based waiver, so you pay the full amount every year however much you use the card. That's ₹250 a month you need to earn back before the card starts paying you. Kotak softens it with 2,500 Air Miles as a welcome benefit and another 2,500 Air Miles every year on renewal. Eligibility asks for a credit score of 700 or above and an age between 21 and 60, open to both salaried and self-employed applicants. The card runs on Visa.

Rewards and how they actually work

Air+ earns at a base rate of about 2%, rising to 5% (5x Air Miles) on flight and hotel bookings made through Kotak Unbox. At the 2% base, you need ₹1.5 lakh of eligible spend a year, or about ₹12,500 a month, just to earn back the fee in miles before counting the renewal bonus.

The word "eligible" is doing a lot of work there. A long list of spends is excluded from base earning: utilities, insurance, education, government payments, rent, fuel, wallet loads, EMI transactions, gaming, cash advances and international spend. That last one is the awkward part. The card's low forex markup makes it cheaper to use abroad, but your foreign transactions don't earn base miles at all. Strip out rent, utilities, insurance and school fees, and many households will find their eligible monthly spend is much smaller than their total card bill.

The 5x on Unbox bookings is the card's best feature, but it ties you to one portal. If you usually book directly with airlines or compare fares across sites, check Unbox prices before assuming the extra miles are worth it.

Lounge access, forex and fuel

You get 4 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year and 2 international visits through Priority Pass, both for the primary cardholder only. That's enough for two return trips a year, not much more. The 2% forex markup is the stronger travel benefit: on ₹1 lakh of overseas spending you pay ₹2,000 in markup instead of ₹3,500 on a typical card, a saving of ₹1,500. There's also a 1% fuel surcharge waiver on fuel transactions.

How it compares with Axis Horizon and IDFC FIRST Ashva

The Axis Horizon costs the same ₹3,000 but waives it at ₹3.5 lakh of annual spend. It has the same shape of earning, 5% on travel bookings and 2% elsewhere, and its EDGE Miles transfer 1:1 to partners such as Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Marriott Bonvoy and Accor. Its lounge allowance is far larger, at up to 32 domestic visits a year on the Visa variant plus 8 international, and it includes travel insurance. Horizon's weakness is a 3.5% forex markup. For anyone who mostly flies domestically, Horizon is clearly the better card.

The IDFC FIRST Ashva charges ₹2,999 with no waiver, almost the same as Air+, but has a 0% forex markup. It gives 4 domestic and 2 international lounge visits per quarter (16 and 8 a year), 4 railway lounge visits a quarter and trip cancellation cover. Its base reward rate is a lower 0.83%, and it needs ₹12 lakh of annual income. For international travellers who qualify, Ashva beats Air+ on both forex and lounge access by a wide margin.

What's genuinely good about this card

The 2% forex markup is a real advantage over most cards in this price range, and for an occasional overseas trip it saves meaningful money. The 5x miles on Unbox bookings give regular travellers a strong earn rate on flights and hotels. The welcome and renewal bonuses of 2,500 Air Miles each mean you get something back every year for the fee, and the eligibility bar is accessible compared with many travel cards.

Where it falls short

The fixed ₹3,000 fee with no spend waiver is the biggest drawback, especially when Horizon offers a waiver at the same price. The exclusion list is long enough to shrink the base 2% considerably for many households, and excluding international spend from base earning undercuts the card's best feature. Four domestic and two international lounge visits a year is modest for a card that markets itself on travel.

Who this card actually makes sense for

Air+ suits Kotak customers who travel a few times a year, are happy booking through Kotak Unbox, and take an occasional trip abroad where the 2% markup helps. It makes less sense for frequent domestic flyers, who will get more from Horizon, or for regular international travellers who can qualify for a zero-forex card like Ashva.

Where to go from here

For the rest of the bank's cards, see the Kotak credit cards guide. If forex is your priority, our best low forex markup credit cards list compares the options, and the Priority Pass explainer covers how international lounge visits work.