Mexico visitors head for home as flu fears spread

(For full coverage of the flu outbreak, click [nFLU])

* Tourists, foreign students cutting trips short

* U.S. recommends halting non-essential travel to Mexico

* Argentina, Cuba suspend flights; Ecuador curbs charters (Adds U.S. tourist in Dallas, Ecuador measures)

By Helen Popper and Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - Tourists and foreign students hurried to leave Mexico on Wednesday because of fears of swine flu and worries that flights would be canceled after news the virus claimed its first fatality outside Mexico.

Millions of travelers come to Mexico each year to visit beaches, ancient pyramids and quaint colonial towns but on Wednesday some headed to the airport sooner than planned.

"We didn't want to get stuck here," said Australian Alex Grinter, who left her beach vacation in the southern state of Oaxaca to get an early flight to Vancouver.

Kyra Bornemann, 20, from Germany, cut short a trip to do voluntary teaching work. "I decided yesterday to fly today because I was worried the flight might be canceled," she said.

Up to 159 people are believed to have died in Mexico from the flu, a virus that passes from human to human and has spread to more than 20 countries. Many suspected cases in other parts of the world are in people who made trips to Mexico.

Wednesday's announcement that a 22-month-old Mexican boy had died in a Texas hospital was the first time a fatality had been recorded outside Mexico, but the World Health Organization warned that a global flu pandemic was imminent.

Argentina and Cuba have temporarily halted flights from Mexico, and the United States has advised against non-essential visits to its southern neighbor.

Ecuador said it was restricting charter flights to and from Mexico for 30 days, while France said it would seek a European Union ban on Thursday on flights to Mexico.

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL.N) said it canceled Mexico stops for three of its cruise ships due to the swine flu alert and Canadian tour operator Transat AT (TRZb.TO) said it was postponing its flights to Mexico until June 1.

Other Canadian airlines WestJet Airlines Ltd (WJA.TO) and Air Canada (ACa.TO) said they were temporarily suspending all operations to popular resorts like Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta.

DANGER ON PLANES

Several American airlines said earlier this week they would allow passengers to any city in Mexico to change their plans without any fee or penalty.

In Dallas, Angel Aguirre, 29, said he had cut short a visit to Mexican relatives to come back to the United States because of the outbreak.

"I was there about three days. It should have been two weeks," he said at the arrivals area at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

In Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of 20 million, all schools, restaurants, nightclubs and public events have been shut down to try to stop the sickness spreading. Many foreign students went home early as universities closed down.

"It's such a shame because all people heard before about Mexico was the drug war and now it's swine flu," said Randal Sheppard, a 27-year-old Australian who is writing his dissertation on Mexican history.

"It's a bit disappointing but nothing is open anyway, including the university so I haven't been able to do any work," he said.

Police and airport officials have been advising any passengers with symptoms typical of swine flu -- persistent coughing, vomiting, fever -- not to board flights and go immediately to the doctor.

Germs can circulate in plane cabins, although most planes are equipped with advanced filtration systems. WHO says that people who fly for more than eight hours in close proximity to someone with an infectious disease -- a few seats or rows -- can risk getting infected. (With additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Dallas; Editing by Eric Beech)