In the February issue of SmartMoney, Peter Keating gives a good rundown on the disappearing senior discount in the travel world. Once upon a time, those in their golden years got all kinds of discount incentives from airlines, hotels, and attractions. The thinking was that those retirees were on a fixed income and needed a little help getting out of the house. These days, they’re wealthier than the rest of us overall and are living longer. So there’s a problem:
For one thing, some industries just can’t afford to offer the breaks they used to. Consider ski resorts, for example. Sixty- and 70-year-olds are healthier and more active than ever before, and more ready to hit the slopes. Offering them cheap lift tickets therefore costs a lot more than it did just a few years ago, and in January 2006 many resorts announced cutbacks in their senior-discount programs.
Or look at airlines. As recently as the late 1990s, most major carriers offered coupon books to senior travelers. Each booklet typically contained four or eight vouchers and cost as little as $75 per coupon. If you were 62 or older, you could simply go to a ticket counter, hand over a coupon and hop a flight to any nonstop destination in the United States. This sounds too good to be true, especially to post-9/11 ears, and it was.
All is not lost though and you can still catch a break here and there. Southwest Airlines taps the maximum one-way fare at $139 if you’re 65 or older. You can get a $10 Golden Age Passport from the U.S. National Park Service . You can find a whole load of deals at SeniorDiscounts .
Or you can just go where you and your money are really valued. Park yourself in the right spot in Central America for retirement and you’ll get so many discounts it’ll make your Panama hat spin…
