An A319 departed with an abnormal fuel load configuration. During flight; fuel transferred from the inner wing tanks to the outer wing tanks until the inner tanks were near 2000 LBS causing the crew to declare an emergency and plan a divert. Fuel then began transferring back to the inner tanks and the crew continued to destination.

Narrative

1. 1st flight of the day; no uplift at departure station. Fuel on board from previous flight was 10.1; required at takeoff was 7.4; total ramp was 9.6.2. Fuel was in nonstandard configuration; left and right outboards were only about half full. The rest of the fuel load was in the mains and balanced. 3. After level off at FL220 during a normal scan we noticed unwanted fuel transfer from the mains to the outboards at an alarming rate and volume. 4. There were no other abnormal indications or faults. 5. Began trouble shooting and within moments the right out board was full and the left outboard was close to full and the mains we down to just over 2 grand a piece. 6. We assumed the worst case that the fuel that was transferred to the outboards might not be recoverable and with that the fuel remaining in the mains was not enough to land at our destination with any reserve. 7. I declared an emergency with Center and turned towards the nearest suitable field. 8. Descending through 16;000 FT with about 6500 LBS showing auto transfer from the outboards to the mains began and all fuel was recovered back into the mains. 9. I canceled the emergency with Center and landed normally at our destination. 1. I accepted a nonstandard fuel load because the fuel on board was more than adequate for the mission. (outboards half full) 2. The rate of fuel transfer from the mains to the outboards was beyond any previous experience; which leads to a lack of confidence in the integrity of the fuel system. 3. I did not wait to see if auto transfer would or would not work and declared an emergency to get ahead of the situation. 4. After the fact on the ground in talks with Maintenance Control; through them Airbus states that the airplane was operating normally.