Just an example of how empty seats on the seat map tell nothing about how full the cabin is: I checked in for today’s AY102 at T36. The seat map showed 12 empty seats in J.

Once on board, all J seats are taken. And it’s not a question of last minute op-ups due to overbookings in Y. There are about 20 empty seats in Y.

Maybe CX pax can’t prereserve seats, or maybe there are many OTA booked tickets where pax haven’t bothered to reserve a seat, or maybe it’s something else. Be it as it may, a half- (or quarter) empty seat map is no indication of anything.