I was watching on the internet and saw the empty seats open up about 12 minutes before departure. We were number 1 and 2 on the stand-by list, but they could only clear 1 person. We did not want to split up so number 3 go cleared as he was traveling alone.

I'm not sure why all those seats opened up. Is it possible those were customers without preassigned seats who were confirmed on the flight?

Do those seats not show taken on the map so close to departure?

Maybe the flight was weight restricted? Is that possible on such a short route? There weren't any weather issues that I know of.

We chose to take a cab and fly as we didn't want to mess with the car and having to navigate Houston traffic. I know others may think that is silly, but that is just what we chose to do.