Your statement about the change in the direction Muslims face in prayer is inaccurate. When the Prophet received orders from Allah that he and all Muslims should pray in a particular fashion, he was told to face Jerusalem when he prayed. The Prophet obeyed this order as did all Muslims. The Jews always faced Jerusalem in their prayer. They did not turn toward the Ka’aba in their prayer at all. Seventeen months after the Prophet had settled in Madinah, he was commanded by Allah to change the direction he faced in the prayer so as to turn toward the Ka’aba whenever he prays. Again, he complied with Allah's order. Wherever Muslims are, they are required to turn towards the Ka’aba when they pray. It should be remembered that the Ka’aba is the first house ever to be dedicated to the worship of Allah alone.

1. In this case of travel, you offer your Fajr prayer when it is due, while you are on board. Obviously, you cannot find enough space to offer your prayer in the normal way, without obstructing the passage of other passengers and the plane crew. Nor is it possible for you to determine the direction of the Qiblah. Therefore, you pray in the seat bending your head for bowing (i.e. rukoo') and bending a little more for prostration (i.e. sujood). For standing up or seated positions, you remain seated. The Prophet offered sunnah prayer when he was traveling, while he was on the back of his camel. He did not change the direction the camel was going. Nor did he try to rise and sit. He remained in the riding position, bending for rukoo' and sujood.

What you have to be careful about is the time when Fajr becomes due. The times in the air are different from those on land. You will find that the sun rises much earlier and dawn falls later than usual. Therefore, you should be alert to these time changes.

Perhaps it is wiser to have ablution before you board the plane. It is very difficult and inconvenient to have ablution using the wash basin in the toilet on the plane. However, if you cannot keep your ablution until Fajr is due, you should use the facility of wiping over your socks, as this is permissible if you have put them on after you had ablution.

2. Shortening prayers is a concession given to travelers after they have started their journey. In other words, if you live in Riyadh and you are traveling from it, you can start shortening your prayers once you are out of the city. If you are traveling by plane, it is when the plane has taken off that you can start reducing your prayers. If is only Dhuhr, Asr and Isha that can be shortened from 4 to 2 rak'ahs. Maghrib and Fajr remain as they are.

When traveling, we are allowed to combine prayers, but the combination applies only to joining Asr with Dhuhr, or joining Maghrib with Isha. Fajr cannot be joined to any other prayer. It is permissible to join each two of these prayers at any point in their time range. So, you can bring Asr forward to the time of Dhuhr or leave Dhuhr to the time of Asr. The same applies to Maghrib and Isha. That gives us a long time gap which is sufficient for any journey. However, if you are traveling by plane and you have taken off, say, just before Dhuhr time, and your first stop will be after Maghrib has fallen due at your destination, then you offer your prayers on the plane, in your seat. You do the bowing and prostration with your head and body as far as you can. Obviously it is not possible to block the passage in between the seats for your prayers. As I say, when you pray on the plane you reduce your prayers to 2 rak'ahs each, except for Maghrib which remains at three rak'ahs.

3. A traveler is strongly recommended to shorten his Dhuhr, Asr and Isha prayers to two rak’ahs each, because this is in line with what the Prophet has taught us. We do it not because prayers become a burden during travel; they do not. We do it praising Allah for the concession as an exercise of strength, not weakness. This is the proper attitude.