Narrative:

Leg one on day one of a three day trip. Pre-departure; taxi; and takeoff [were] normal. The first officer (first officer) was hand flying the aircraft. As we passed through FL190; the purser called and informed me the aft flight attendant reported smelling a strong electrical smell with no visible smoke present. I asked him to keep me informed. I advised the first officer and told center we might have a problem and needed to level off at FL210. The purser called again at which time I gave the radios to the first officer and answered. He said the smell was very strong and they were very concerned. They removed all power from the cabin. I asked him if he believes it's serious enough to divert; which [he] answered yes. I informed the first officer and told him that I think we should land at ZZZ since we were directly abeam the airport; he concurred. We declared an emergency; informed center of our issue and turned toward ZZZ. The purser called back and said the smell is very strong and he sounded very worried. I told him we are diverting to ZZZ and will be on the ground in 5 minutes. The first officer was flying the aircraft and talking to the controllers. I sent a short ACARS message to dispatch and started focusing on where the aircraft was. The first officer did an excellent job and had already put a new destination in the mcdu; pulled up weather; and had his charts out. I thought it would be a good idea for him to continue flying so I could catch up; which he concurred. He briefed the approach and just about then the purser called and said the aft flight attendants were putting their protective breathing equipment on (later turned out he had said they were pulling them out and I may have miss understood). This made the situation very serious to me. I asked for the aircraft and pushed the speed up and received direct clearance for [the runway] at ZZZ. We landed uneventfully and made the turn off where the emergency vehicles were waiting. On short final; I asked the first officer to contact the purser for an update. We were informed the smell had gone away so we told the flight attendants we would not evacuate and also told the fire marshal of the status in the back and that we would stop by them and not evacuate unless they see or tell us other wise. All seemed normal to the fire marshal and no sign of heat or smoke so we taxied to gate. I asked the passengers to deplane in an orderly fashion and leave their carry on items. Every one - the flight attendants; first officer; passengers; and ground support - were excellent.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew is informed by the Purser during climb of electrical fumes in the aft galley. Flight Attendants turn off all galley equipment and the flight crew elects to divert to the nearest suitable airport after declaring an emergency. Smoke dissipates prior to landing and aircraft is taxied to the gate.

Narrative: Leg one on day one of a three day trip. Pre-departure; taxi; and takeoff [were] normal. The First Officer (FO) was hand flying the aircraft. As we passed through FL190; the Purser called and informed me the aft Flight Attendant reported smelling a strong electrical smell with no visible smoke present. I asked him to keep me informed. I advised the FO and told Center we might have a problem and needed to level off at FL210. The Purser called again at which time I gave the radios to the FO and answered. He said the smell was very strong and they were very concerned. They removed all power from the cabin. I asked him if he believes it's serious enough to divert; which [he] answered yes. I informed the FO and told him that I think we should land at ZZZ since we were directly abeam the airport; he concurred. We declared an emergency; informed Center of our issue and turned toward ZZZ. The Purser called back and said the smell is very strong and he sounded very worried. I told him we are diverting to ZZZ and will be on the ground in 5 minutes. The FO was flying the aircraft and talking to the controllers. I sent a short ACARS message to Dispatch and started focusing on where the aircraft was. The FO did an excellent job and had already put a new destination in the MCDU; pulled up weather; and had his charts out. I thought it would be a good idea for him to continue flying so I could catch up; which he concurred. He briefed the approach and just about then the Purser called and said the aft flight attendants were putting their protective breathing equipment on (later turned out he had said they were pulling them out and I may have miss understood). This made the situation very serious to me. I asked for the aircraft and pushed the speed up and received direct clearance for [the runway] at ZZZ. We landed uneventfully and made the turn off where the emergency vehicles were waiting. On short final; I asked the FO to contact the Purser for an update. We were informed the smell had gone away so we told the flight attendants we would not evacuate and also told the Fire Marshal of the status in the back and that we would stop by them and not evacuate unless they see or tell us other wise. All seemed normal to the Fire Marshal and no sign of heat or smoke so we taxied to gate. I asked the passengers to deplane in an orderly fashion and leave their carry on items. Every one - the flight attendants; First Officer; passengers; and ground support - were excellent.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.