Radian RF 737-800 bulkhead? (Flying tonight.)

Hey, we got bulkhead seats! On a Continental 737-800 (or rather United Ate My Continental Airline). For a red eye trans-con with a kid who usually rides RF in his Radian in the car, FF on the plane.

The question: does anyone know if I can install it RF? Is it physically possible? He'd sleep the whole way, and I'd be a happy camper. His head slumps FF and keeps him up. He's HUGE so I know this will be the weirdest thing EVAR for the flight crew, but I'm not concerned about that. And I assume it will be braced on the wall, but again, I don't care.

It probably depends on how the plane is configured. Even within the same airline, planes can be configured differently.

Whenever I have been in the bulkhead it seemed even more cramped than a regular seat, but you never know. It's worth a try.

I know I've seen at least one picture of a Radian RF in a bulkhead seat. But I don't know what kind of plane it was. I would hazard a guess that on a red eye flight you'd have a bigger plane and hopefully enough room to RF.

Good luck.

ETA - if you can't RF I'd try reclining the plane's seat after you're in the air to get a better recline on the Radian.

It's this one:
http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Continental_Airlines/Continental_Airlines_Boeing_737-800_B.php
The wall has a cut out for your feet, so there's extra leg room, but there is a wall in front which I think the Radian will touch.

(We love seatguru: makes flying with a 6'9" person do-able. And the 6'9" person in question knows as much about planes as I do about car seats.)

I think not using the boot has been discussed but I don't think anyone will advocate doing that.

On my iPhone...Probably NAK or PAK ;-)

Well, I did it. Don't think I'd do it again.

There's plenty of room for the seat. The issue is the non-movable arm rests. There's just no good way to tighten down the belt even with the seat belt extender, so I ended up reaching down behind the seat into the seat one row back (this involved some butt-in-the-air gymnastics on a full plane). By the time I got it in tight enough I didn't want to do it again to get the angle better (I guessed it was at about 45 by comparing to a piece of paper). The buckle wasn't at a place I liked, either, but it was right on the edge so I left it.

And then a flight attendant came over to tell me I shouldn't install it RF. She was very very nice, and I was very very nice, and she went and got her manual, and sure enough, the FAA recommends that children 20-40 lbs be in forward facing car seats. She thought that was a safety thing. She even thought that the recommendation to have children over 40 lbs in the seat belt was a safety thing, as in its easier for them to get out in an emergency. I'm not sure about all that, but whatever. She left it up to me, and I left him RF, since he wanted to "go backwards" and the idea of doing it all again right when they were closing the door just seemed too much.

Sure enough, he slept the whole way. But that angle looks silly on him now, the installation wasn't my favorite, and I'm unsure as to what the deal is with the FAA and their anti-RF stance. I suppose this isn't going to happen again anyway since he's pushing 40 lbs.

The FAA isn't anti-RF; that's outdated wording. The FAA allows seats to be installed rear-facing or forward-facing as long as it's within the manufacturer guidelines. http://carseatblog.com/8037/guest-blog-flying-with-a-car-seat-know-your-rights/

LISmama810 said:

The FAA isn't anti-RF; that's outdated wording. The FAA allows seats to be installed rear-facing or forward-facing as long as it's within the manufacturer guidelines.[/url]

Click to expand...

Her manual was new, but they still "recommend" 1 and 20 for RF, 20-40 for FF, 40 and above in the seat belt. It is very clearly just a recommendation, so I had the right to do it RF, but the issue was that this flight attendant was under the impression that these are safety recommendations. She really truly thought that over 40 lbs they're safer in the seat belt, and that's why her manual recommended it. Mine's going to be 2 and over 40 lbs so I'm thinking: no.

I just saw this. In the future I'd avoid bulkheads (though the 6'9" person might like them) and aim the carseat for a regular row, forward facing, with the little recline foot out. Install the Radian with the plane's seat fully reclined. Then pull the seatback up for take off and landing. In between, recline the seat. The Radian will be nicely installed and at a nice angle. Piper slept for seven hours straight that way on a flight back from China. Worked beautifully.

I hate bulkheads. The non movable armrests bug me, and I'm too short to feel comfortable with my legs just out. I can't tuck them under anything, I can't rest them against the wall unless I slouch too much, and I can't cross them.

Glad you made it ok, and hopefully that flight attendant will stop turning kids forward facing. At least she left it to you and you knew better.

Wendy