Kansas City Star - January 20, 2009 by Rick Alm
Mission travel agency's People Tracker software helps spur its growth
Within minutes of the news Thursday that a jetliner had splashed down in the Hudson River, a Mission travel agency was sending e-mail alerts to clients and others that their employees and loved ones weren't aboard.
Thanks to All About Travel's proprietary “People Tracker” data system, it knew that none of the 155 passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 were among the agency's 358 clients using that airline that day.
Company president Brent Blake said the unique technology was not for sale. “That's the value we can provide in today's world,” Blake said. “It's really fueled our growth.” The company has melded off–the–shelf software with real–time airline data available to all travel agencies into what he says is state–of–the–art technology that flags travelers, tracks their movements and flight changes, alerts them to impending dangers such as hurricanes or civil unrest, and helps extract them in a hurry from crisis locations.