A320
Flight Attendant Current
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
Flight Attendant smelled an odor mid-cabin during our safety demonstration on Flight XXXX. She notified the rest of the cabin crew of the smell; and I along with Flight Attendant went to inspect the area. We also opened the air vents in our galleys; which reeked of exhaust. We notified the pilots; and contacted maintenance personnel. Although maintenance mentioned they did not smell anything unusual; three of us confirmed an unusual odor. While taxiing out; we smelled a pungent smell of exhaust.
During the safety demo I was standing at row 21. I began to notice an odor that smelled like warm tires. I smelled it for the duration of the safety demo and afterwards went forward to have the A and B come back to see if they smelled it too. They did and we decided to notify the Captain. We were still waiting at the gate for baggage so he called maintenance. We could smell it in the aft cabin as well as coming from the air vents in both galleys. Maintenance could not smell anything. The smell was not overwhelming but it was present and would come and then dissipate; or we just got used to it and would get another whiff. After they ran their tests they said they couldn't find anything wrong. The smell seemed to have lessened and we decided to go. The B FA (Flight Attendant) felt dizzy after smelling the air vents and I had throat irritation.
A320 cabin crew reported indistinguishable odor in the passenger cabin prior to pushback from gate. Odor was reported to the Captain who requested maintenance action.