Alaska Airlines cancels flights to Puerto Vallarta



SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-based Alaska Airlines has canceled all passenger reservations into the southwestern Mexico resort town of Puerto Vallarta Saturday due to Hurricane Patricia.

Airline officials said Friday about 2,000 people were scheduled to fly into or out of Puerto Vallarta Saturday from California and Washington state. They say flight trackers may still show the flights as operating normally although the airline will not fly there Oct. 24 with passengers.

Alaska officials are offering flexible rebooking or refunds through Oct. 26 to those with flights to Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa and Manzanillo in the next few days. If the airlines can fly empty planes into Puerto Vallarta they will try to fly people out.

The Puerto Vallarta airport was closed to flights Friday as the Category 5 storm's center made landfall 55 miles west-northwest of the port city of Manzanillo.