Traveling internationally and looking for a U.S. airline with Wi-Fi enabled aircraft?

Delta Air Lines today announced plans to expand in-flight Wi-Fi to its international fleet of aircraft beginning in early 2013. More than 150 of the airline's international fleet of Boeing 777, 767, 757, 747 and Airbus A330 transoceanic aircraft will receive the new satellite-based Internet service.

Delta already operates the world's largest fleet of aircraft equipped with Wi-Fi. All 550 of its domestic mainline aircraft and more than 200 Delta Connection regional jets feature Wi-Fi provided by Gogo Inflight Internet.

Installation of the new service is expected to be completed by 2015.

A dozen advocacy groups for airline passengers will line up today to voice their gripes about flying and suggest remedies to a new federal advisory board.

Some of the advocates scheduled to testify at the Transportation Department's Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection say their suggestions include:

•Reimbursing passengers — and making them more aware of their rights — when flights are canceled or delayed.

•Alerting customers to compensation they're due for lost luggage.

•Forcing airlines to combine pricing for all services for which there are fees, such as baggage and seat assignments, so customers can compare ticket prices more easily between airlines.

The airline industry has changed dramatically since I began flying more than three decades ago. It has become increasingly self-service with the advent of booking tickets online, printing our own boarding passes and even tagging our own bags .

Delta Air Lines is the latest U.S. carrier to test the next self-service function likely to spread in the years to come — automated boarding turnstiles at departure gates. It allows passengers to scan their own boarding passes and proceed down the jetway onto the aircraft without interacting with an airline employee. Delta tested the machines recently in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

The former Continental Airlines, now merged with United , also began testing similar equipment at its hub at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport in previous years. And Lufthansa has been actively using self-service boarding gates for years at airports across Europe.

Flights from New York to both Los Angeles and San Francisco are considered a premium market given the volume of road warriors who travel the route. As such, many airlines offer a dedicated fleet of aircraft flown exclusively between these cities with an enhanced cabin configuration normally seen on international routes.

American Airlines is one of those carriers and they operate Boeing 767-200s on flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and both LAX and SFO. The aircraft features three classes of service — first class, business class and economy. Passengers in the premium cabins enjoy upgraded amenities, including multi-course meals, bigger seats and individual on-demand media players.

I've had the opportunity to fly with American on this route several times and offer my suggestions on where to sit in this installment of "Best Seats."

Say you're trapped in an airport during a long layover or after a cancelled flight. Trying to catch some zzzz's no longer means having to bend yourself like a pretzel, while trying to wedge yourself into the seats at the gate waiting area; or worse, stretching out on a corner of dirty terminal floor.

That's because more airports worldwide offer mini sleep spaces that can be rented for as little as 30 minutes. They have clever names like SnoozeCube, SleepBox and NapCab and offer a bed, desk and a little respite from the chaos of the airport terminal. Sizes range from very small capsules requiring you to crawl in, to compartments equivalent in size of a small bedroom.

Here are some airports that feature these pod hotels, sometimes called micro hotels. Plus, some feedback on what road warriors think of them (Dollar values are estimates, which have been converted from local currency).

Does using a Mac or PC affect your search results on online travel site Orbitz?

Orbitz revealed it has found consumers who use Apple Mac computers spend as much as 30 percent more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to recommend sometimes costlier travel options than Windows visitors see, according to a report .

But before you jump to conclusions, know that pricing is always the same. The ability to sort results by price — and other options like hotel name, star rating and point of interest — are still available to all consumers, no matter the computer used for a search.

This revelation simply means consumers need to be smart when searching and know that "recommended" hotels are just that — a suggestion. The power to pick a hotel still rests with the user.

“All consumers see the same prices on hotels on Orbitz,” Orbitz CEO Barney Harford said on CNBC's "Closing Bell ."

“Fundamentally our recommendation algorithms are just trying to find customers great deals by showing customers hotels that similar customers have booked,” Harford said.

If you could design an ideal airliner, what features would it include?

A new survey of 1,000 travelers asked just that question and reveals the top 10 amenities for an ultimate aircraft. Skyscanner.com , a U.K.-based travel search website, polled its users asking what they would most like to see on their dream flight. And some of the results are currently available today, though reserved for those flying in business or first class.

Topping out the list with 20 percent of the votes was capsule style bedrooms. Perhaps taking a cue from Japanese capsule hotels , sleeping berths might seem a little claustrophobic, though privacy would certainly be at a maximum.

Randolph Jones Sr. travels more than 100,000 miles a year. In that time, he's had his bags delayed three times and one bag damaged.

He's been offered vouchers to take later flights because his was oversold. He's missed connecting flights at least five times.

Jones, a management consultant from Marietta, Ga., realizes much can go wrong when traveling by air. But for a long time he hasn't bothered to look at an airline's contract of carriage — the fine print on an airline's website that details what responsibility the airline has to a passenger when a flight is canceled or delayed, when luggage is lost and when there aren't enough seats for everyone on a plane.

He knows the contracts work in the airlines' favor. "It basically says they are responsible for little, and if they fail it is, 'Oh well,' " he says.

The newest, glitzy building opening in Las Vegas this week isn't a hotel.

Wednesday marks the opening day of Terminal 3 at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport , a $2.4 billion terminal that will add 14 gates and help spread the flow of nearly 114,000 daily travelers passing through the airport.

Passengers using the new "E Gates" terminal will find a gleaming, sky-lit three-story structure stretching almost a half-mile from end to end. It has self-serve check-in kiosks, streamlined security, eight miles of automated baggage handling and more than 900 video LCD flight, baggage and gate information displays.

The facility also has free wireless Internet, plenty of places to recharge electronic devices, $5 million worth of public artwork, four replicas of Betty Willis' iconic "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign and, of course, slot machines.

Thunderstorms in the Northeast created havoc on Friday (and again today) for air travelers nationwide, causing lengthy delays and flight cancellations. Tropical Storm Debby is also pounding Florida and other parts of the Southeast, bringing more disruptions.

If your flight gets canceled or you miss a down-line connection due to a delay, be proactive in seeking reaccommodation.

It's common after a flight gets canceled for gate agents to direct passengers to a central customer service desk for rebooking. But don't simply join the line and think that's your only option. Here are some strategies I employ to get faster service.

First and foremost, immediately call the airline's reservations office as soon as the flight is canceled, or a delay will cause you to miss a connection. Do this as you join the line at the customer service desk. Since call centers typically employ hundreds of agents at a time, chances are you'll get through faster on the phone than waiting for one of the few agents at the desk.