Just last month we took our 19 month old from Portland to Rio. We did not buy a seat for him. If I were to do it again, I would be the same way. It depends on your financial situation. We were redeeming miles. We got to bring his car seat on 4 of the 6 flights. We could have brought it on the long flight from MIA to Rio, but AA said it was full. Bull! We were so mad to see people sprawled across 3 seats while I had my little one on my lap. We will insist on bringing the seat on after that and if there is not a seat (one of us would get up to take the other seat and put the little one by the other parent) they would gate check it.

On the bulkhead. On the way back from Brazil to Dallas, we thought we were so lucky to have the bulkhead. On AA's crappy planes (I'm not a fan and won't fly them again if I can help it - they don't even let children pre-board) they only have one huge tv at the bulkhead rather than a lot of little ones (like continental or others) guess where the tv was? Right in front of my son's face! Playing bright Harry Potter at 2am when he was trying to sleep! Also, my husband is 6'5" and didn't like bulkhead, b/c he couldn't put his feet under the seat in front and was more cramped.

Good luck!