Has there ever been a commercial airliner that the seats have been facing rearwards? It sounds like rear-facing seats would be significantly safer. In addition, the procedure for rear-facing bracing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace_position), seems significantly simpler and more obvious than traditional methods.
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I flew with my wife and two children on a Southwest flight. Since one of my kids was an infant in a carseat the flight attendants brought us to the back of the plane where the second to last row was rear facing. It was very convenient. Since the whole family were facing each other it made it much easier to deal with the kids. – TomMcW Nov 22 '15 at 16:19
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Related: Are there examples (current or historical) of commerical aircraft seating arrangments beyond the standard today?. – mins Nov 22 '15 at 18:30
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Some airlines do offer rear facing seats in business/first class. However, this is more to save space than for increasing safety. For example, British Airways offers a mix of forward and backward facing seats in its business class.
Source: Forbes.com
BAC Hawker Siddeley Trident offered rear-facing seats while it was in service. (Note the visible cockpit).
Source: airliners.net
Armed forces of a number of countries use rear facing seats, like the RAF and USN in their C-2 Greyhounds.
"C-2A interior DN-SD-03-16988" by Camera Operator: PH1(AW) Shawn P. Eklund, USN - US Defense Visual Information Center photo DN-SD-03-16988. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.
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