The problem
I dont know how to use the value of the currently returned Observable of getUserHeaders() in my http.get. 
Current error
Type 'Observable<void>' is not assignable to type 'Observable<Participant[]>'
Expected result
Being able to use the value of my Observable returning method getUserHeaders() as a headers attribute within the http call. While only returning the http call's Observable.
Previous code
(which worked with harcoded Headers returned by getUserHeaders() (so not an Observable or Promise).
getAllParticipants(): Observable<Array<Participant>> {
    return this.http.get('someUrl',
                {headers: this.getUserHeaders()})
           .map(response => {
               return response.json();
        });
    });
   }
Current code
going by Chaining RxJS Observables from http data in Angular2 with TypeScript 's answer I came to the flatMap method. (note this code currently throws the 'current error')
getUserHeaders(): Observable<Headers> {
        let headers: Headers = new Headers();
        return NativeStorage.getItem("user").map(
            data => {
                headers.append('API_KEY', data.json().apiKey);
                headers.append('DEVICE_ID', data.json().deviceId);
                return headers
            }).catch( error => {
                console.log("error");
                headers.append('API_KEY', 'TEST');
                headers.append('DEVICE_ID', 'TEST');
                return headers;
            }
        );
    }
/** retrieves ALL the participants from the database */
    getAllParticipants(): Observable<Array<Participant>> {
         return this.getUserHeaders().flatMap( data => {
            return this.http.get('someUrl', {headers: data}).map(response => {
                return response.json();
            });
        });
   }
plunkr (Promise instead of Observable)
http://plnkr.co/edit/A0tEB9EUodWQS6AnqrtH?p=info
(note: Observable.fromPromise() didn't work here so I have created the two methods returning promises -- now I want to use the value of getUserHeaders() inside the promise of getParticipants() and still return the promise/observable of getParticipants() and nothing from getUserHeaders()