B737-800
Flight Attendant Current
Flight Attendant Airline Total 28; Flight Attendant Number Of Acft Qualified On 6; Flight Attendant Total 28; Flight Attendant Type 98
Physiological - Other
Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
General Work Refused; General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Aircraft
We had just finished the meal service when the #3 Flight Attendant asked me (#4) and the #2 Flight Attendant if we smelled anything in the cabin. She told us where she was smelling the odor; and #2 went to investigate. He came back and indicated that he did smell the odor of something like fuel. I went up to see if I could smell it; and did; in fact; smell it as well. I; however; have sinus issues; so the smell wasn't as strong to me as it was to the other flight attendants at that point. We contacted the #1 to get her opinion. She walked back and indicated that she; too; smelled the odor. We all agreed it was the smell of fuel. We contacted the cockpit crew. The Captain asked if the passengers were saying anything to us about the odor. I told him no. I said that maybe the odor was concentrated around the top of the cabin; which might explain why only we were noticing it. He asked me to go to the area of highest concentration; rows 20-21; and see if the odor was present at floor level. I did this; and reported back to him that it was present at floor level; but was much fainter than the area where our heads were when standing in the aisle. He then asked the First Officer to go back to smell for himself and also indicated that he was going to turn off the air recirculation to see if that helped dissipate the fumes.Once the Captain turned off the recirculation of the air; the smell; in my opinion; got much stronger. This is the opposite of what we expected to happen. The Captain then asked the First Officer to come through the cabin and investigate. The First Officer came down through the cabin and joined #2 and me in the back galley. He said that he did; in fact; smell the fumes; and that they smelled like jet fuel to him. We all talked about how odd it was that the passengers weren't saying anything to us about the fumes. The First Officer told us to take oxygen if we needed to because we; the cabin crew; were all beginning to become light-headed and were suffering from headaches. #2 and #3 flight attendants were also becoming nauseous. The cockpit crew asked us to keep them advised and also asked us if we felt like we needed to divert. The four of us were uncomfortable making that decision since the passengers weren't complaining. Cockpit decided to continue.By the time we landed I had also begun to feel nauseous. Once we deplaned; a mechanic came on and said the odor would make sense; since the area of highest concentration of fumes was right over the center fuel tank. The aircraft was removed from service.Oddly; once we got out into fresh air; the symptoms did not go away. #2; #3; and I asked to be removed from the trip. #1; who had been furthest away from the issue; was only experiencing a small degree of light-headedness; and so she elected to continue flying. By the next day; the symptoms had all disappeared.
During boarding; the #3 Flight Attendant noticed a smell and after takeoff still noticed it and asked if I would check to see if I smelled it too; so I checked and did. It smelled like fuel from around row 20-21 to aft of cabin to aft galley. The other flight attendants checked and smelled same; so we called the cockpit to tell them what was happening in the cabin. The First Officer came back to smell as well and concurred that in fact it smelled like jet fuel. He said that if we needed O2 to take it and they would write it up and that he would tell the Captain (who said he would not come back because he had sinus surgery and couldn't smell). The First Officer asked if we wanted to divert; at which time we told him how we felt and that shouldn't be our call but felt that should probably happen; but [also] asked if that isn't their call to divert. At that point; we still had 1.5 hours to go and the crew chose to continue versus divert. At which point myself; Flight Attendant #2; and Flight Attendant #3 were feeling most ill effects and then Flight Attendant #4 came to feel the same with Flight Attendant # 1 in front cabin feeling a bit of what the rest of us were because she was up front and not in the midst of the area where it originated from.
B737-800 flight attendants reported feeling ill from fumes in the cabin that smelled like jet fuel.