Narrative:

Climbing out of 10;000 ft a flight attendant called to inform us of a smoke smell and visible smoke in mid to aft cabin. She said she saw a 'fog like' smoke that smelled like 'burnt plastic; burnt paint; burnt chemicals.' we did not see or smell anything in the cockpit. We advised ATC and shot the ILS. Upon landing we asked the fas if they still smelled anything. They said no; so we went to the gate and had the equipment follow us and standby while we assessed at the gate. There were no smoke indications at the gate. A logbook entry was made for the cabin smoke and overweight (17;000 pounds; smooth touchdown) landing.we did not don oxygen masks and smoke goggles; since we had no indications of smoke in the cockpit. Our priority was to set up properly for a quick; safe return; under adverse weather conditions. We were prepared to don them immediately at the first indication of smoke in the cockpit. Under the circumstances they would have been an unnecessary distraction. I believe this went about as well as possible. The first officer and the fas handled the situation in a calm and professional manner. I did not hear of any unexpected complaints from the passengers. Afterwards; the first officer; our offline cockpit jumpseat rider; and myself; discussed the issue of not donning masks. We all agreed that under those conditions we'd made the right decision.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew was informed by a Flight Attendant during climbout that they smelled smoke in the mid-cabin and there was a visible haze. The crew elected to return to the departure airport and landed overweight with the smoke having dissipated during the approach.

Narrative: Climbing out of 10;000 ft a FA called to inform us of a smoke smell and visible smoke in mid to aft cabin. She said she saw a 'fog like' smoke that smelled like 'burnt plastic; burnt paint; burnt chemicals.' We did not see or smell anything in the cockpit. We advised ATC and shot the ILS. Upon landing we asked the FAs if they still smelled anything. They said no; so we went to the gate and had the equipment follow us and standby while we assessed at the gate. There were no smoke indications at the gate. A logbook entry was made for the cabin smoke and overweight (17;000 pounds; smooth touchdown) landing.We did not don oxygen masks and smoke goggles; since we had no indications of smoke in the cockpit. Our priority was to set up properly for a quick; safe return; under adverse weather conditions. We were prepared to don them immediately at the first indication of smoke in the cockpit. Under the circumstances they would have been an unnecessary distraction. I believe this went about as well as possible. The FO and the FAs handled the situation in a calm and professional manner. I did not hear of any unexpected complaints from the Passengers. Afterwards; the FO; our offline cockpit jumpseat rider; and myself; discussed the issue of not donning masks. We all agreed that under those conditions we'd made the right decision.

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.