(MONEY Magazine) – AGE HAS ITS PRIVILEGES, and not the least of them is that once you hit 50, you can get great discounts on products you buy and places you go. The problem is that many of these deals are unadvertised and available only if you ask. So to help you ferret out the best freebies and price breaks, writer Alison Rogers consulted Joan Rattner Heilman, author of Unbelievably Good Deals and Great Adventures That You Absolutely Can't Get Unless You're Over 50 (Contemporary Books, $8.95), which is now in its seventh edition.

Q. What are today's absolutely top discounts?

A. The best deals are travel-oriented, on hotels and air travel. Hotel chains have senior programs, and most individual hotels have them too. Some offer discounts of as much as 50%.

Q. Name names, please. Which hotels?

A. Marriott, for one. To get the discount, you have to be a member of AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons (800-424-3410). If you make a 21-day nonrefundable advance booking, you get 50% off regular rates at participating Marriott hotels. If you can't commit yourself three weeks ahead, you can still get 10% off. The Omni hotel chain also offers AARP members as much as 50% off on rooms--and will give you a 15% discount on food in some of their restaurants if you're a guest at the hotel. And Choice hotels, a group that includes Comfort Inns, Rodeway, Econo Lodge, Clarion Hotels, Sleep Inns, Friendship Inns and Quality Inns, gives people over 50 a 30% discount on the regular room rate on advance reservations, based on availability, at participating establishments.

Q. Do you have to be retired to join AARP?

A. You don't have to be anything except 50 years of age or older.

Q. When should you request a hotel discount?

A. Always ask for it when you're making your reservations. But when you check in, remind the clerk that you've arranged for the discount. It may be too late to claim it when you pay your bill.

Q. Are there any general rules about senior discounts?

A. Yes. Sometimes a special sale will be better than your senior discount. So when you request a discount anywhere--including hotels, airlines, car-rental agencies and stores--ask whether the senior rate is the lowest one available, or whether you can do better with another discount being offered. Also, always carry identification, such as a driver's license, that shows your birth date. And remember to ask whether there are discounts when you go out to restaurants, movies and museums or are using public transportation.

Q. What's the best deal on air fares?

A. Senior coupon books. Almost all airlines sell booklets of coupons to people over 62 for a flat bargain fee. TWA, for example, was charging $548 for a booklet of four coupons on Jan. 1. Each coupon was good for a one-way flight anywhere in 48 states (two coupons were necessary for a trip to Hawaii, and TWA does not fly to Alaska). That means you could fly round trip coast to coast for $274 with two coupons, compared with the $393 you would have paid for TWA's cheapest round-trip fare, which required a seven-day advance reservation and was nonrefundable.

A couple of caveats, though: Like frequent-flier programs, airlines allot a limited number of seats for coupon bearers, so try to make reservations as far in advance as you can. And try to fly at off-peak times like midweek and during the spring and fall. Bear in mind too that you usually must purchase a ticket with your coupons within a year of the time you buy them, although you don't have to actually make your trip for about one more year after the ticket purchase date.

There are related airline deals too. Continental offers a Freedom Passport to anyone over age 62 that allows virtually unlimited travel in the U.S. for four months (Jan. 1 price: $999). Continental also offers a one-year U.S. passport ($1,199) and a global passport that gives you virtually unlimited travel for one year throughout the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska, and to Mexico, Central America, Europe and Canada ($4,499).

Q. Do resorts or other sorts of destinations offer travel discounts?

A. Yes. Club Med gives each person 55 and older $150 off the regular price ($700 to $1,100) for a week's stay at 14 of their resorts, including Bora Bora in the South Seas. At three of those resorts--Ixtapa in Mexico, St. Lucia in the Caribbean and Sandpiper in Florida--grandchildren five years and younger can be brought along for free. Bermuda has designated February as Golden Rendezvous month, with special packages and special discounts for visitors over 50. You can call the Bermuda Department of Tourism for information (800-223-6106). And if you're 62 or older, a Golden Age Passport to all U.S. national parks is $10. It gets you and anybody in your vehicle into the parks and monuments for free. That includes places like Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

Q. Is it true that older men can go on cruise ships for free?

A. Many cruise lines now have what they call gentlemen hosts--retired professionals usually age 60 or older who go for free, or about $20 a day, to dance and socialize with the single older women. That whole thing has grown quite a bit, as one cruise line after another has started doing it. If you're interested, call the cruise line you want to travel with. But be warned: They are overwhelmed with applicants.

Q. Are car-rental discounts worthwhile?

A. Since car-rental companies have a million different rates, you have to make sure that the senior discount is the best one. If you're over 55, Thrifty guarantees 10% off its lowest available rate at any of its locations. Other chains give you 5% to 10% off, but it's generally not on top of any other promotional rates.

Q. How about shopping?

A. There are two noteworthy programs. One is at Sears, whose Mature Outlook program for people over 50 costs $9.95 annually and provides $100 worth of discount coupons, which are good for $2 to $10 off, depending upon the size of the purchase. Montgomery Ward has a program called Y.E.S.; if you're over 55, you get 10% off on almost all purchases every Tuesday. There are loads of stores that have discounts for seniors one day a week.

Q. What about sports?

A. One of the best deals around is skiing. It's a rare ski area today that does not give reduced rates on lift tickets to people over 60 or 65. Most areas are free for people over 70. The 70+ Ski Club in Ballston Lake, N.Y. was put together by a ski columnist named Lloyd Lambert, who's now 94, with the idea of making skiing less expensive for older people. You have to send proof of your age--a copy of your birth certificate or driver's license--and you can join this club for $5 for life. If you have a membership card, just about any place you go will let you ski free, including Vail and Aspen in Colorado, Sundance in Utah and Hunter in New York.

Q. Suppose you want to sit down for a while?

A. Most colleges will let you take courses at reduced fees. Even in their continuing-education programs for adults they sometimes give discounts to seniors.

Q. Are there financial services bargains?

A. At 62, you can get $20 off the regular fee for your American Express card. Also, seniors can get free checking at a lot of banks and don't have to pay fees for safe-deposit boxes and traveler's checks.

Most car insurers give discounts to older drivers with good driving records. And some, including Allstate, give discounts on homeowners policies to people who are 55 and retired. Maybe they assume you're around the house more and keeping an eye on things.

Q. But with the great travel discounts that are available, you're likely to be away, right?

A. That's true.

Alison Rogers is an associate editor at Worldbusiness magazine.

Lifetime Advantage on-line conference For more on senior discounts, chat on-line with author Joan Rattner Heilman on CompuServe at GO MONEY on Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. EST.