Originally Posted by
Deadtail
The seat map is not a good indicator of how many seats are available or have been purchased. Many times tickets are purchased but seats not assigned.
If your original ticket is more expensive than the flight you want to get on, why not refund it and buy a ticket on the new flight?
Well there is at least 9 (shows F9 on EF). And it's a P fare and only F currently available, so there would be a change fee and betting OP didn't pay $1600 for the P fare (cursory looks shows P fares for 14 days out at $590).