Narrative:

During the climbout all aft flight attendants began to smell a stinky feet odor. After 10;000 feet they came to the forward galley and informed me of the odor/fumes. I asked the B flight attendant to call the captain and inform him as I had not smelled it just yet. The captain asked us to wait 15 minutes to see if it clears up a bit. After 15 minutes the flight attendants told me the smell has not gotten any better. I called the captain and informed them. He asked me if anyone was sick and I informed him the flight attendants that were feeling ill and symptoms from this. When he asked me what aisle it starts at I told him I would go back to find out because I had a fresh nose that hasn't been in it. Once I hit row 25-28ish I couldn't breathe without putting my hand over my nose. It was so thick and smelled horribly; like smelly feet. I called the captain from the aft of the aircraft to inform him and he asked me if passengers can smell it. I asked him to hold for a minute and when I bent down to see if I could smell it at the passenger level the passenger next to me asked me what the smell was. When I asked her what she smelled; she said it smelled like stinky feet. I informed the captain and returned to the front of the aircraft. I wasn't in the aft galley for more then 5 minutes at top and I began to feel dizzy and tingly. When I informed the captain of our illnesses and two of the flight attendants he said he was working on a fix and we will take it from there and again asked about the passenger. Whatever the captain had done reduced the odor/fumes; but it never fully went away. When we informed the captain of this he had told me our night was just starting and if we divert for a medical emergency we will be up with needles in our arms. He asked us after our duties were completed to rotate flight attendant from the back to the front to keep them out of the fumes/odor. Upon descent into our destination; the fumes/odor came back. On the ground an agent came on the plane and asked me about the event and showed me the ACARS report about the event. The captain had not reported the flight attendant's illnesses due to the fumes/odor and had only report 2 flight attendants smelled it. I personally can't remember much more than that but I do remember that. During the event no flight attendant thought about asking to call the medical consultation service including me even though that is something that should have taken place when we started feeling ill. If I had followed CRM and collect my thoughts I would have thought to call medlink. I have had zero training on fumes/odor in the cabin so I was completely unprepared and when I reached out to our captain he wasn't much help. Better teamwork between the two work groups would have improved this situation as well as training on this type of event.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Four B757-200 flight attendants report illness during and after a flight on which a dirty socks odor was detected and reported to Captain. The flight continued and no medical attention was requested at the destination.

Narrative: During the climbout all aft flight attendants began to smell a stinky feet odor. After 10;000 feet they came to the forward galley and informed me of the odor/fumes. I asked the B Flight Attendant to call the Captain and inform him as I had not smelled it just yet. The Captain asked us to wait 15 minutes to see if it clears up a bit. After 15 minutes the flight attendants told me the smell has not gotten any better. I called the Captain and informed them. He asked me if anyone was sick and I informed him the flight attendants that were feeling ill and symptoms from this. When he asked me what aisle it starts at I told him I would go back to find out because I had a fresh nose that hasn't been in it. Once I hit row 25-28ish I couldn't breathe without putting my hand over my nose. It was so thick and smelled horribly; like smelly feet. I called the Captain from the aft of the aircraft to inform him and he asked me if passengers can smell it. I asked him to hold for a minute and when I bent down to see if I could smell it at the passenger level the passenger next to me asked me what the smell was. When I asked her what she smelled; she said it smelled like stinky feet. I informed the Captain and returned to the front of the aircraft. I wasn't in the aft galley for more then 5 minutes at top and I began to feel dizzy and tingly. When I informed the Captain of our illnesses and two of the flight attendants he said he was working on a fix and we will take it from there and again asked about the passenger. Whatever the Captain had done reduced the odor/fumes; but it never fully went away. When we informed the Captain of this he had told me our night was just starting and if we divert for a medical emergency we will be up with needles in our arms. He asked us after our duties were completed to rotate flight attendant from the back to the front to keep them out of the fumes/odor. Upon descent into our destination; the fumes/odor came back. On the ground an agent came on the plane and asked me about the event and showed me the ACARS report about the event. The Captain had not reported the flight attendant's illnesses due to the fumes/odor and had only report 2 flight attendants smelled it. I personally can't remember much more than that but I do remember that. During the event no flight attendant thought about asking to call the medical consultation service including me even though that is something that should have taken place when we started feeling ill. If I had followed CRM and collect my thoughts I would have thought to call Medlink. I have had zero training on fumes/odor in the cabin so I was completely unprepared and when I reached out to our Captain he wasn't much help. Better teamwork between the two work groups would have improved this situation as well as training on this type of event.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.