Narrative:

When boarding aircraft; flight attendants complained of a foul odor in the cabin. One ran off the plane and sat in the jet bridge. They all seemed to smell something pretty 'foul'. The first officer and myself didn't smell anything in the flight deck; and they were describing odor as 'dirty socks'; 'burning oil' and 'nasty smell from the lavatory'. I walked to the back of the aircraft to see if I could see what the concern was. If I smelled anything; it was a very faint hint of a body odor; or maybe a hint of a used sick sack; very slight if anything. I returned to the cockpit and asked the first officer to go back and see if he could smell anything. He returned and said he could not smell anything at all. I advised the lead that we will call the cleaners and have them spray the cabin with air freshener and asked the lead if they wanted to hold off boarding until the cleaner arrives. She said they were ok to board; so we did. After boarding was complete; the lead came to the cockpit and advised me that she and the other two flight attendants had headaches and that it seems to be getting worse. I called ops and told them that we needed to deplane as it would appear that we have an odor on the aircraft that is causing the flight attendants to have headaches. I asked the lead flight attendant if any of the passengers were complaining of odor or headaches. She said they were not. The in flight supervisors came to the airplane and we deplaned. The flight attendants were checked out by the airport paramedics and checked out fine. The flight attendants requested to go to the hospital for further testing and the in flight supervisors coordinated a ride for them. The first officer had them write out their statements and we filled out the air quality event checklist and made a write up in the maintenance logbook. I contacted ops; dispatch and the duty officer and also was in touch with crew scheduling. I debriefed with the flight attendants and received further clarification of the event. The cleaners came back to the aircraft; and the lead flight attendant sent them to the back of the aircraft where they said the odor was the most prevalent. Once the cleaner arrived at the back of the aircraft; the flight attendant told them not to spray air freshener because the odor was gone and by this time; the APU was running and the rear catering door was closed (it was open while catering when first arrived to the aircraft). I debriefed local maintenance (who were at the aircraft during the event due to other maintenance issues) and asked them if they ever smelled anything in the cabin. They said they did not. The first officer; myself and maintenance personnel all felt fine throughout the entire event. This event occurred during preflight/boarding. Main boarding door was never closed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reported cabin crew experiencing physiological symptoms from odor in the passenger cabin prior to departure. Passengers deplaned; flight attendants were transported to the hospital; and aircraft was turned over to Maintenance.

Narrative: When boarding aircraft; flight attendants complained of a foul odor in the cabin. One ran off the plane and sat in the jet bridge. They all seemed to smell something pretty 'foul'. The First Officer and myself didn't smell anything in the flight deck; and they were describing odor as 'dirty socks'; 'burning oil' and 'nasty smell from the lavatory'. I walked to the back of the aircraft to see if I could see what the concern was. If I smelled anything; it was a very faint hint of a body odor; or maybe a hint of a used sick sack; VERY slight if anything. I returned to the cockpit and asked the First Officer to go back and see if he could smell anything. He returned and said he could not smell anything at all. I advised the Lead that we will call the cleaners and have them spray the cabin with air freshener and asked the lead if they wanted to hold off boarding until the cleaner arrives. She said they were OK to board; so we did. After boarding was complete; the Lead came to the cockpit and advised me that she and the other two flight attendants had headaches and that it seems to be getting worse. I called Ops and told them that we needed to deplane as it would appear that we have an odor on the aircraft that is causing the flight attendants to have headaches. I asked the Lead Flight Attendant if any of the passengers were complaining of odor or headaches. She said they were not. The In flight Supervisors came to the airplane and we deplaned. The flight attendants were checked out by the airport paramedics and checked out fine. The flight attendants requested to go to the hospital for further testing and the In flight Supervisors coordinated a ride for them. The First Officer had them write out their statements and we filled out the air quality event checklist and made a write up in the maintenance logbook. I contacted Ops; Dispatch and the Duty Officer and also was in touch with crew scheduling. I debriefed with the flight attendants and received further clarification of the event. The cleaners came back to the aircraft; and the lead FA sent them to the back of the aircraft where they said the odor was the most prevalent. Once the cleaner arrived at the back of the aircraft; the Flight Attendant told them not to spray air freshener because the odor was gone and by this time; the APU was running and the rear catering door was closed (it was open while catering when first arrived to the aircraft). I debriefed Local Maintenance (who were at the aircraft during the event due to other maintenance issues) and asked them if they ever smelled anything in the cabin. They said they did not. The First Officer; myself and Maintenance Personnel all felt fine throughout the entire event. This event occurred during preflight/boarding. Main boarding door was never closed.

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.