Narrative:

During climb purser called flight deck reporting that fas (flight attendants) in aft galley were experiencing strong electrical burning smell and had the halon extinguisher out and wanted to return to field. Flight attendant came back on inter phone and said the smell was very strong and wanted to land. No smoke; fire; or other indications of fire were observed. First officer (first officer) was pilot flying. We coordinated with ATC for level off and the return to ZZZ. Notified dispatch via ACARS of problem; intent to return. Began smoke; fumes; odor checklist.purser called from aft galley to report that the smell had rapidly dissipated. This was before the checklist portion that isolates electric and air conditioning. Checklist completed. Continued to coordinate with ATC for return. Verified overweight landing. Requested rwy xxr; longest runway. Set up FMC and radios for ios xxr. Performed descent checklist. Landing uneventful. Taxi to gate uneventful. Made log entry for overweight landing. Mx met flight at gate. Mx had made the decision to keep pax on plane; and instructed customer service to do so. I asked station to deplane passengers. Called dispatch to report our status. Called [operations] for briefing/ debriefing. Mx discovered that an flight attendant in the aft jumpseat had a phone charger plugged into an outlet by door 2R. Mx reported that the lower receptacle was hotter than the upper; the one the flight attendant was using; and that it showed signs of arcing. Mx began taking parts off of the jet for another plane that was having difficulties. We elected not to stay with the flight as the departure time was uncertain.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 flight crew reported an electrical burning smell from the cabin and returned to departure airport.

Narrative: During climb Purser called flight deck reporting that FAs (Flight Attendants) in aft galley were experiencing strong electrical burning smell and had the halon extinguisher out and wanted to return to field. FA came back on inter phone and said the smell was very strong and wanted to land. No smoke; fire; or other indications of fire were observed. FO (First Officer) was pilot flying. We coordinated with ATC for level off and the return to ZZZ. Notified dispatch via ACARS of problem; intent to return. Began Smoke; Fumes; Odor checklist.Purser called from aft galley to report that the smell had rapidly dissipated. This was before the checklist portion that isolates electric and air conditioning. Checklist completed. Continued to coordinate with ATC for return. Verified overweight landing. Requested rwy XXR; longest runway. Set up FMC and radios for iOS XXR. Performed descent checklist. Landing uneventful. Taxi to gate uneventful. Made log entry for overweight landing. MX met flight at gate. MX had made the decision to keep pax on plane; and instructed customer service to do so. I asked station to deplane passengers. Called dispatch to report our status. Called [Operations] for briefing/ debriefing. MX discovered that an FA in the aft jumpseat had a phone charger plugged into an outlet by door 2R. MX reported that the lower receptacle was hotter than the upper; the one the FA was using; and that it showed signs of arcing. MX began taking parts off of the jet for another plane that was having difficulties. We elected not to stay with the flight as the departure time was uncertain.

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.