rear facing on airplane

Hi should my 22 month old be rf or ff on an airplane?
Thanks

hmmmm...

Not a tech, but wanted to get you some type of answer quickly.

I believe that FFing a 22 month old on a plane is far less dangerous than in the car, because forward momentum is much less in the air... you get more up and down motion during turbulence, and backward pressure during takeoff and landing. Also, riding on an airplane is very very safe to begin with.

So, RFing would be ideal, but if it is too difficult b/c of space constraints (person ahead of you not being able to recline their seatback at all) or if a flight attendant isn't up to date and wants you to FF, it isn't so bad.

I've successfully rearfaced my son on an airplane all the way past his 4th birthday.

I prefer to rearfacing on an airplane for the following reasons:

1. Baby is used to it.
2. Baby cannot kick the seat in front
3. Baby is more comfortable and more likely to fall asleep
4. Baby is easier to feed and entertain (he is facing you as opposed to you having to turn to see him.
5. Fewer dropped toys
6. More arm/shoulder room for you.

She has a marathon. Would the person in front of her be able to recline their seat? The flights are long and overnight. Five and then seven hours on the way there and eleven hours on the way back. It's on AA if that makes a difference.

If you rf, can the person in front of you recline their seat. The flights are 5, 7 and 11 hours and overnight. Our seat is a marathon, but we need a second seat and are considering getting one that works well for travel, I think it was a Sunshine I looked at.

The person in front will not be able to recline their seat. That being said, having someone recline their seat in front of a forwardfacing Marathon leaves almost no room between your child and the seatback in front of them. Especially since that seat is up on the base.

Your job is to look out for your family. Keep your kid comfortable and able to sleep well overnight on the plane will allow the passenger in front of them to sleep as well, regardless of if they will be able to put their seat back or not (which they won't be able to do.) If your kid is crying on the flight because she can't sleep, then she is not only keeping awake the passenger in front of her, but everyone else in her immediate surroundings.

Here is a video of Jordan riding rearfacing on an airplane. He was 4 1/2 years old.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwg9w1Spf_c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwg9w1Spf_c[/ame]

The Radian is also a bit of a problem rear-facing. Ffing it's a dream. This is what we got when my youngest outgrew the Sit & Stroll.

There are some options;
1. rear-face for take-off and landing. For a long flight, you could turn the seat around to ffing. The dynamics inflight are different than take-off and landing. During those times, you can have forward impact if something goes wrong. But in the air, it's highly unlikely with the new technology that you would hit something in the air (and hate to be grim but it wouldn't really much matter). Those both are unlikely but turbulence is common and can cause injury. You just need your child strapped down.

2. Try to sit in a bulkhead seat where there is no person in front to disturb.

3. Have the other parent or another member of your party sit in front so that there's no stranger to disturb.

4. Consider or try to get the seats with bigger pitches available on some airlines. United calls theirs' "Economy Plus" and I saw a Marathon in one on my last flight. Looked pretty smart. There was some decent room between the seat and the person in front.

Also try to find out how full your flight is. If it's half empty, discuss this with at check-in and see if they can put an empty seat in front of you, or at least just two people in say a row of three in front. I once leaned in front and talked to the people in front, offering to place the seat behind the empty one. It's logical because center seats are the least popular.