Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Attendant Current
Physiological - Other; Time Pressure; Troubleshooting
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Aircraft
Upon boarding aircraft; crew was overcome by strong smell of vomit in cabin.  Cleaners were cleaning aircraft- once they got to back galley; they indicated a passenger on the inbound flight had vomited on the carpeting between the two aft lavs; on the walls and into the aft galley.Cleaners tried in vain to clean the aircraft; altogether taking over 2 hours (and delaying the aircraft) to get the carpet cleaned and the smell reduced.  Cleaners DID NOT use proper safety tools to clean the biohazard; no gloves for most of the employees; (some did have gloves on) and even used a regular vacuum to vacuum up the absorbent material.End result; the aft carpets had to be steam cleaned which in the end reduced the smell of vomit; but greatly increased the smell of chemicals in the aft cabin.Onboard Supervisor was on hand; as well as the Chief Pilot on duty and the Ops Manager.  Everyone worked hard to find a solution but in the end we were given the impression from management that if we did not take the plane and deal with the chemical odor we would be given a direct order to do so.While I understand the operational needs of the company; the impact of having to breath a unknown cleaning chemicals as well as having to breath the odor of human vomit for the duration of a 3 hour flight out and then another 3 hour flight to return is unhealthy and presents a safety concern for our passengers and crew.
The floor was steam cleaned yet the smell was still strong while standing in the aft galley. FAs were informed that even though the smell remainded there was no other action to be taken and the aircraft must be taken by the scheduled FAs.
Passenger vomit removal from the previous flight was completed but the offensive odor remained after extensive cleaning. Management strongly suggested the crew complete the scheduled round trip or be ordered to do so with the aircraft in the current condition.