Narrative:

In the climbout passing through approximately 32;000 feet; one of the flight attendants called us to report a cracked passenger window in the emergency exit; seat 11A. I stopped our climb to minimize the cabin differential pressure and leveled off at 33;000 feet. I asked the flight attendant several questions to confirm that it was the glass outer pane that was damaged; and not the plastic inside pane. She confirmed that it was the glass pane that was cracked. I descended down to 27;000 feet because it was smoother air at 270; and this would also reduce the differential pressure.we remained pressurized during the entire event. We were near ZZZ; so we called ZZZ operations to establish communication with dispatch and maintenance. Talking to maintenance; he asked if I'd seen the damage. I hadn't yet; so I went back in the cabin to assess the damage. The outer glass pane was definitely cracked; and this window had significantly more wind noise coming from it. I returned to the flight deck with the information and agreed with dispatch that we should divert. We diverted uneventfully into ZZZ.the flight attendants reported that some of the passengers were scared and concerned. Upon arrival at the gate; one passenger collapsed to her knees in the jetway; and was quickly met by paramedics. She continued on with us after we swapped aircraft. I made a logbook entry for the cracked window and left the aircraft with ZZZ contract maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-700 Captain reported a passenger window outer pane cracked in flight.

Narrative: In the climbout passing through approximately 32;000 feet; one of the Flight Attendants called us to report a cracked passenger window in the emergency exit; seat 11A. I stopped our climb to minimize the cabin differential pressure and leveled off at 33;000 feet. I asked the Flight Attendant several questions to confirm that it was the glass outer pane that was damaged; and not the plastic inside pane. She confirmed that it was the glass pane that was cracked. I descended down to 27;000 feet because it was smoother air at 270; and this would also reduce the differential pressure.We remained pressurized during the entire event. We were near ZZZ; so we called ZZZ Operations to establish communication with Dispatch and Maintenance. Talking to Maintenance; he asked if I'd seen the damage. I hadn't yet; so I went back in the cabin to assess the damage. The outer glass pane was definitely cracked; and this window had significantly more wind noise coming from it. I returned to the flight deck with the information and agreed with Dispatch that we should divert. We diverted uneventfully into ZZZ.The Flight Attendants reported that some of the passengers were scared and concerned. Upon arrival at the gate; one passenger collapsed to her knees in the jetway; and was quickly met by paramedics. She continued on with us after we swapped aircraft. I made a logbook entry for the cracked window and left the aircraft with ZZZ Contract Maintenance.

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.