In my experience on B6, which is probably at about 500 flights now, I've seen a ton of flights go out with empty EMS rows and people sitting on standby. My TCON flights are almost always empty in the middle if not the whole row with paxs left at the gate.
I don't fly the shuttle routes with any regularity and if that's their policy on those flights, awesome. That would be the first I've heard of it.