Pretty sure you can face those seats forward. Look in the user manual with the car seat. usually the airline seat belt will go behind the padding. On the airline it's fine to face them forwards, just follow the instructions for forward facing. For the most part, the car seat is to keep the children safe during turbulence, and it also makes it easy for them to sleep without you holding them up. I think in the extremely unlikely event of a catastrophic crash, it won't make much difference if the child is rear facing or forward facing.