Narrative:

In cruise flight the flight attendant (flight attendant) called and said she smelled smoke. She said she didn't see smoke but smelled some sort of electical fire/smoke odor. We advised ATC that we were [had a situation] and would like to start an imediate descent and head towards [the nearest suitable airport]. We told the flight attendant to keep us posted if the smell got worse or she saw smoke or found the source of the problem. ATC gave us a decent initiallty to FL190 and a heading followed by direct the airport. It was about a little over 100 miles away at this point. Just as we were about to level at FL190 the flight attendant called back and said that she had detected the source of the smell. That the smell was coming from one of the flight attendant's purses that had been in the front galley. She told us that the smell was coming for a car remote that had gotten wet and that they had searched thouroughly and were 100% confident that the smell had come from the purse and that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft. We verified this with her at least 3 or 4 times. We were at FL190 at the time and decided since the source of the smell had been detected and we were confident that the safety of flight was not impacted or would be impacted we decided to continue the flight. We advised ATC what had happened and they reissued a clearance to destination. As we proceeded back on course we decided to contact dispatch by radio rather than try to explain it over ACARS. Dispatch concluded with us that as long as the safety of flight was not impacted and the source of the smell had been determined that we would be safe to continue the flight. We verified with dispatch our fuel on board (fob) and had them double check our new arrival fuel. We were tankering so there was plenty of fuel to continue the flight safely. Our arrival fob was still scheudled to be over 11;000 lbs. We also verified with the flight attendant's that the passengers were calm and that she 100% certain again that the odor was coming from her purse and that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft. We continued to [our original destination] and landed safely. Upon landing the flight attendant's came to the cockpit to debrief the situation. Only then did she tell us that there had been an electronic cigarette in her purse and she briefly saw what looked like smoke come from her purse. We then concluded that the electonic cigarette had most likely been the source of the odor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew is informed by a Flight Attendant that electrical fumes are present in the cabin. ATC is advised and a diversion is planned. At FL190 the Flight Attendant advises that the source of the smoke has been traced to a purse and later confirmed to have been caused by an E cigarette. Flight continues to destination.

Narrative: In cruise flight the Flight Attendant (FA) called and said she smelled smoke. She said she didn't see smoke but smelled some sort of electical fire/smoke odor. We advised ATC that we were [had a situation] and would like to start an imediate descent and head towards [the nearest suitable airport]. We told the FA to keep us posted if the smell got worse or she saw smoke or found the source of the problem. ATC gave us a decent initiallty to FL190 and a heading followed by direct the airport. It was about a little over 100 miles away at this point. Just as we were about to level at FL190 the FA called back and said that she had detected the source of the smell. That the smell was coming from one of the FA's purses that had been in the front galley. She told us that the smell was coming for a car remote that had gotten wet and that they had searched thouroughly and were 100% confident that the smell had come from the purse and that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft. We verified this with her at least 3 or 4 times. We were at FL190 at the time and decided since the source of the smell had been detected and we were confident that the safety of flight was not impacted or would be impacted we decided to continue the flight. We advised ATC what had happened and they reissued a clearance to destination. As we proceeded back on course we decided to contact dispatch by radio rather than try to explain it over ACARS. Dispatch concluded with us that as long as the safety of flight was not impacted and the source of the smell had been determined that we would be safe to continue the flight. We verified with dispatch our Fuel on Board (FOB) and had them double check our new arrival fuel. We were tankering so there was plenty of fuel to continue the flight safely. Our arrival FOB was still scheudled to be over 11;000 lbs. We also verified with the FA's that the passengers were calm and that she 100% certain again that the odor was coming from her purse and that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft. We continued to [our original destination] and landed safely. Upon landing the FA's came to the cockpit to debrief the situation. Only then did she tell us that there had been an electronic cigarette in her purse and she briefly saw what looked like smoke come from her purse. We then concluded that the electonic cigarette had most likely been the source of the odor.

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.