Narrative:

During taxi; aft flight attendants notified me that they smelled something not right in the cabin. I walked the length of the aircraft and back forward; did not notice a smell. I advised I would begin the safety demo and call the pilot. Upon advising captain of the other flight attendants concerns; he decided to continue taxi out and start the second engine to see if that would clear the air. By this time I was coughing and feeling a scratching in my throat; as was the other flight attendant in the forward cabin with me. The captain made several attempts at shutting down systems; to no avail. During this time all flight attendants were experiencing continued coughing; scratching throats; I felt light headed; the #3 flight attendant felt nauseous; many passengers could be heard coughing and clearing their throats. The decision was finally made to return to the gate (captain suggested taking off may 'clear the air'; I declined to become a statistic and requested a return to the gate). Upon eventually being met by an agent; several (5-7) mechanics came on board the aircraft. Two of them immediately stepped off and remarked about the odor. Within one minute the decision had been made to take the aircraft out of service and passengers were deplaned. All four flight attendants were taken to the medical facility in the airport; had vitals checked; and were kept there for approximately 2-3 hours. After a very cursory exam by the physician; I requested further treatment and a rx was written to go to the er. 2 of 4 flight attendants continued on to the hospital where a blood draw and ekg were done. The blood gasses came back as in normal ranges as well as the ekgs. An additional blood draw was done the following monday by the doctor clearing me to return to work; results are pending.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Flight Attendant reported fumes in the cabin during taxi out for takeoff. Aircraft returned to the gate for maintenance checks and was taken out of service.

Narrative: During taxi; aft flight attendants notified me that they smelled something not right in the cabin. I walked the length of the aircraft and back forward; did not notice a smell. I advised I would begin the safety demo and call the pilot. Upon advising Captain of the other flight attendants concerns; he decided to continue taxi out and start the second engine to see if that would clear the air. By this time I was coughing and feeling a scratching in my throat; as was the other Flight Attendant in the forward cabin with me. The Captain made several attempts at shutting down systems; to no avail. During this time all flight attendants were experiencing continued coughing; scratching throats; I felt light headed; the #3 Flight Attendant felt nauseous; many passengers could be heard coughing and clearing their throats. The decision was finally made to return to the gate (Captain suggested taking off may 'clear the air'; I declined to become a statistic and requested a return to the gate). Upon eventually being met by an agent; several (5-7) mechanics came on board the aircraft. Two of them immediately stepped off and remarked about the odor. Within one minute the decision had been made to take the aircraft out of service and passengers were deplaned. All four flight attendants were taken to the medical facility in the airport; had vitals checked; and were kept there for approximately 2-3 hours. After a very cursory exam by the physician; I requested further treatment and a Rx was written to go to the ER. 2 of 4 flight attendants continued on to the hospital where a blood draw and EKG were done. The blood gasses came back as in normal ranges as well as the EKGs. An additional blood draw was done the following Monday by the doctor clearing me to return to work; results are pending.

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.