Narrative:

In cruise flight at FL320; a flight attendant called up to report a strong 'electrical' burning smell coming from the middle of the cabin. The captain asked me to go back in the cabin and see if I smelled anything that we should be worried about. We coordinated with the fas so that I could leave the flight deck. Immediately upon opening the door I was hit with a strong burning odor. I quickly returned to the flight deck and told the captain that there was a distinct and strong odor. Just the act of opening the door allowed him to smell it just as plainly as I did.we made the decision together that the most prudent action was to divert. We initially considered ZZZ1 but as we considered our current position; we decided that ZZZ was the better choice for a diversion airport. We notified ATC of our intent to change our destination to ZZZ due to fumes in the cabin and were given an immediate descent to 11;000 ft. The captain asked that the emergency equipment be standing by. I executed a rapid descent as ZZZ was basically right in front of us at that point while the captain ran the checklist; notified dispatch; coordinated with ATC; notified the passengers etc. I set us up for an ILS in ZZZ and got the current ATIS.after everything was done being coordinated; we ran the descent and approach checklists and were cleared for about an 18 mile visual approach. After landing; there was a little confusion as we had not taken the time to brief the anticipated taxi route to the gate. We were a little confused as to how to get to the gate; especially since I was on radio 2 trying to find out what gate we were supposed to park at. Ground ops was further complicated by the fact that ZZZ ops would not answer me until about the fourth try; so we couldn't tell ground/ramp control what gate we were going to. Eventually we were able to get everyone on the same page and we taxied to the gate. ZZZ fire and rescue followed us to the gate and immediately began searching for the source of the burning smell. After the passengers deplaned and the fire department did an exhaustive search using thermal imaging etc. We turned the aircraft over to maintenance to further investigate the source.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight attendants notified the crew about a strong mid-cabin electrical odor during cruise. The flight crew detected the odor mildly and diverted to a nearby airport.

Narrative: In cruise flight at FL320; a Flight Attendant called up to report a strong 'electrical' burning smell coming from the middle of the cabin. The Captain asked me to go back in the cabin and see if I smelled anything that we should be worried about. We coordinated with the FAs so that I could leave the flight deck. Immediately upon opening the door I was hit with a strong burning odor. I quickly returned to the flight deck and told the Captain that there was a distinct and strong odor. Just the act of opening the door allowed him to smell it just as plainly as I did.We made the decision together that the most prudent action was to divert. We initially considered ZZZ1 but as we considered our current position; we decided that ZZZ was the better choice for a diversion airport. We notified ATC of our intent to change our destination to ZZZ due to fumes in the cabin and were given an immediate descent to 11;000 ft. The Captain asked that the emergency equipment be standing by. I executed a rapid descent as ZZZ was basically right in front of us at that point while the Captain ran the checklist; notified Dispatch; coordinated with ATC; notified the Passengers etc. I set us up for an ILS in ZZZ and got the current ATIS.After everything was done being coordinated; we ran the Descent and Approach Checklists and were cleared for about an 18 mile Visual Approach. After landing; there was a little confusion as we had not taken the time to brief the anticipated taxi route to the gate. We were a little confused as to how to get to the gate; especially since I was on radio 2 trying to find out what gate we were supposed to park at. Ground Ops was further complicated by the fact that ZZZ Ops would not answer me until about the fourth try; so we couldn't tell Ground/Ramp Control what gate we were going to. Eventually we were able to get everyone on the same page and we taxied to the gate. ZZZ Fire and Rescue followed us to the gate and immediately began searching for the source of the burning smell. After the Passengers deplaned and the Fire Department did an exhaustive search using thermal imaging etc. we turned the aircraft over to Maintenance to further investigate the source.

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.