Did you ever wonder what happens to in-flight food leftovers after your plane touches down? Well, most airlines probably bin it, but a stewardess has won an award for making sure some goes to the poor. Susan Powell, who works for Delta Airlines in the US, initiated a recycling programme, and her airline's spare nosh now goes to food banks for the poor. 'With so many hungry people in the world, it really bothered me to just throw away perfectly good food,' she said. Last week Ms Powell was given an Outstanding Service Award at the OAG Airline of the Year awards in London. Singapore Airlines was a 'runway' success, named as Best Asian Airline, and winning a total of six awards. The island state's Changi airport won Best Airport. I guess that means they have got their act together now at the transfer desk, whose staff were the rudest and most unhelpful I have ever come across after missing a connection. Emirates won the Airline of the Year award for the third year running. A small breath of fresh air Meanwhile, Emirates seems to be getting the message that smoking is bad for your health. While most leading airlines have turned their backs on smokers - even JAL - Emirates, in spite of all its awards, still has smoking sections on nearly all flights. But from yesterday, the evening flight from Dubai to London went non-smoking. Emirates' Group managing director, Maurice Flanagan, says: 'The fact that we offer five daily flights to the UK affords us the flexibility of selecting one as a non-smoking flight.' Tough luck if you take one of the others. The beast in us Adventure travel will soon bring out the 'beast' in people in Alaska. In August, teams will race more than 550 kilometres in the wilderness, over six to eight days. The four-person teams, each having at least one woman, will be taking part in the Beast 2000 Adventure Racing World Championship. They will race together through the arduous Alaska Range, home of Denali National Park and Mt McKinley in south central Alaska. The race stages will include trekking, orienteering, glacier travel, mountain biking, sea rafting, ascending and rappelling, and, for the first time ever in an adventure race, pulking, or human powered sleds. The Triathlon Ironman contest look like something for wimps in comparison. The organisers believe Alaska will get a tourism boost as the less energetic travel to Alaska to do the sensible thing - watch. Upstairs, downstairs at The Regent The Regent Wall Street, which opened recently, has rooms in the basement that used to offer free beds. Trouble is the only way you could get one was to be down on your luck. In the 19th century they were jail cells where people who couldn't pay customs fees were incarcerated. In its 158-year existence, the massive limestone structure at 55 Wall Street has served as the New York Merchants' Exchange, the United States Customs House and headquarters for National City Bank, which has evolved into Citigroup. The building, in the heart of the financial district, looks from the outside like a commercial centre; only a discreet sign identifies it as an hotel. But inside you'll find guest rooms, the smallest of which is more than 500 square feet. Some television sets have 39-inch screens, DVD and CD players (for which there is a library). There is a restaurant, a fitness centre, and a spa is being built. And those cells? Well, the hotel may turn them into a cigar bar, but if you can't pay your bill (rooms are from US$425, about $3,300), then you might get to see them before the transformation. Love at a discount The Peninsula is at it again, with yet another special deal for Hong Kong ID card holders. This time it's a St Valentine's Day package. Stay the first night in a deluxe room for $2,325 or a luxury suite for $5,500 and get the second night of a consecutive stay for $780. There's also a round-trip transfer by Rolls-Royce thrown in, and if your loved one isn't watching their waistline, Lunar New Year candies. For this Valentine's Day treat actually was launched yesterday. It ends on February 14. Inside's out A P&0 cruise we mentioned in this column recently is proving popular. The six-night Oriana fly-cruise, HK-Bangkok-Singapore, which leaves on February 29, has sold all its inside cabins. More expensive berths are still available. Cruising is making waves here, because of, wait for it, that Titanic movie. The cruise has a Cantonese-speaking interpreter. Copy for Signposts should be faxed to 2980 3140.
