Medium-rare steak on a plane. Is it physically possible? This is UPGRD.com's continuous, existential debate. What culinary possibilities lurk beyond the galley curtain? Beyond expectations? Even beyond a passenger's wildest dreams? For airborne beef is there more out there than a sad, toughened hue of grayish brown? The general consensus between frequent fliers and crew is that "rare steak on a plane" is a concept much like the Yeti, unicorns and Doctor Who's Tardis: its existence can only be ...

Food week at upgrd.com continues with a number of airline meal related questions for our flight attendants. Join Bobby and Sara as they discuss:

The Crew Lounge flight attendant bikini calendar following on from Ryan AirOperation Grab Ass where people are getting the word out regarding the TSA's absurd body scannersCooking steak to order - or notPreferred jobs on boardCommuting while on reserveand more...

If you're a flight attendant and would like to join us on a ...

I'm on AA flt. 185 right now, cruising at 40,000 ft. somewhere over Arizona. I'e watched six episodes of The League on my laptop, and now I'm sitting here with another 40 minutes or so to kill. Some thoughts:

1. I'm on an empty 767-200 right now. When we boarded, the gate agent first asked for first, business, and Priority AAccess. Then she started to announce groups, but just gave up and said, "If you're breathing and you have a ticket on this flight, hop on." (I'm not ...

Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of The Crew Lounge! We are excited that Mike asked us to join the team here at UPGRD.com, with a flight attendant podcast. 2010 will be an exciting year along with a new podcast every week Bobby and I will be blogging here too! For this episode we are joined by flight attendants, Brad, Patti, and Edith.

This week we discuss:

• Ivana Trump gets booted off a flight
• crew rest
• New Years Resolutions and how to stay fit on the road
• questions from the cabin

Hope to see you every week in the lounge, where we'll dish the dirt and give you a peek behind the galley curtain!

In the comments to a recent post about food (in which I wax philosophical about chili coconut shrimp), Mike and kd5mdk engaged me in a lively (7 comments long!) discussion about steak on domestic airplanes.

My position is that steak on domestic planes is disgusting. It's overcooked, difficult to eat with the not-sharp-enough knife they give you, and is never a decent cut of meat. For all those reasons, the meat tastes crappy and results in an unpleasant eating experience.

Mike ...