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I've always thought I should use "for ages" when, for example, I meet a person who I haven't seen for a long time, but recently I came across another expression, "in ages," as in "I haven't seen you in ages."

Is it correct to say this?

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both are correct to say and will convey the same meaning. – camelbrush Apr 15 '13 at 19:36
They will convey the same meaning in a negative sentence; but in ages and other durational phrases with in (in weeks/months/years/a coon's age/donkey's years) are Negative Polarity Items and can't occur outside the scope of a negative trigger. E.g, I've known him for ages/years/a long time vs ungrammatical *I have seen him in ages/weeks/months/years/a coon's age/donkey's years. – John Lawler Apr 15 '13 at 20:22

While both for and in could be used in the statement you have, in seems to be more prevalent in current usage. However, Google Ngrams indicates that this was not the case always. The use of for in this sentence has declined over time in favour of in.

PS: This is only with reference to negative sentences. Only for is suitable in positive sentences, as John Lawler's comment on polarity item states.

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