Narrative:

Arriving at the aircraft; we (all but the captain) were met by a member of the station; explaining the situation discovered when remoting the aircraft from its parked position to the gate. There was a fire warning light that wasn't clearing on one of the engines and the heater cart had been blowing exhaust into the cabin all night long. We boarded the aircraft and were quickly overcome by the fumes. All doors were opened in an attempt to vent the aircraft; and we discussed with operations delaying boarding for this operation. Our customer load was light; and we were early so we anticipated being able to make the situation acceptable before departure.the captain's initial reaction was; 'it's not that bad'; and 'the flight attendants want to delay the flight; we're going to be late.' we had plenty of time; at that point; and an agreement from the operations agent working and an operations supervisor. The captain did have the outside air removed and started up the APU to allow the re-circle fan to start its job of clearing the cabin.cabin air seemed to get a little better; or we got used to the environment. I suggested to the operations agent that she let our customers know what was going on with the smell in the cabin; in case anyone had issues that may come into play. We boarded the flight and pushed 5 minutes early. We arrived [at our destination] more than 20 minutes early!during the flight; I started to experience a headache; and asked the 'C' flight attendant if she was having the same. She had just taken a pain reliever for hers. I later asked the 'B'; who was experiencing nausea from the lingering smell.in [several enroute stations]; fellow employees commented on the cabin atmosphere [and] both the operations agent working the flight and the ramp agent in the back asked about the odor.I was not feeling better and called in sick for the remainder of my pairing. My headache actually worsened; at first; in the fresh air; but did ultimately clear.I wish I felt comfortable; as a flight crew member; saying 'this aircraft is unacceptable for customer travel'. I think an honest report to dispatch; from the station personnel; would have resulted in a swap or cancellation; until this aircraft could be cleared.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-700 flight attendants reported feeling ill after departing in an aircraft that had a heater cart blowing exhaust into the cabin for some time before departure.

Narrative: Arriving at the aircraft; we (all but the Captain) were met by a member of the station; explaining the situation discovered when remoting the aircraft from its parked position to the gate. There was a fire warning light that wasn't clearing on one of the engines and the heater cart had been blowing exhaust into the cabin all night long. We boarded the aircraft and were quickly overcome by the fumes. All doors were opened in an attempt to vent the aircraft; and we discussed with Operations delaying boarding for this operation. Our customer load was light; and we were early so we anticipated being able to make the situation acceptable before departure.The Captain's initial reaction was; 'it's not that bad'; and 'the flight attendants want to delay the flight; we're going to be late.' We had plenty of time; at that point; and an agreement from the Operations Agent working and an Operations Supervisor. The Captain did have the outside air removed and started up the APU to allow the re-circle fan to start its job of clearing the cabin.Cabin air seemed to get a little better; or we got used to the environment. I suggested to the Operations Agent that she let our customers know what was going on with the smell in the cabin; in case anyone had issues that may come into play. We boarded the flight and pushed 5 minutes early. We arrived [at our destination] more than 20 minutes early!During the flight; I started to experience a headache; and asked the 'C' FA if she was having the same. She had just taken a pain reliever for hers. I later asked the 'B'; who was experiencing nausea from the lingering smell.In [several enroute stations]; fellow employees commented on the cabin atmosphere [and] both the Operations Agent working the flight and the ramp agent in the back asked about the odor.I was not feeling better and called in sick for the remainder of my pairing. My headache actually worsened; at first; in the fresh air; but did ultimately clear.I wish I felt comfortable; as a flight crew member; saying 'this aircraft is unacceptable for customer travel'. I think an honest report to Dispatch; from the station personnel; would have resulted in a swap or cancellation; until this aircraft could be cleared.

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.