Originally Posted by
milepig
Where were you headed? While some of it was probably misconnected pax, I'd guess that a lot of people had gotten on another flight standby. I do this all the time for LGA, DCA, etc. I book on the last flight, and then hop on the first one after I arrive at the airport. The last flight out, when I am on it, is quite often fairly empty as so many pax have left on earlier flights.
ORD->OAK, scheduled 20:15, actually left around 22:45. The only other UA ORD->OAK flight is at 9:45. Only other standby possibilities late in the day were ORD->SFO flights scheduled for 17:00 (actual 17:41), 18:30 (actual 18:38), 20:00 (actual 19:59), or 22:10 (actual 22:23), but not everyone would want to go to SFO and then have to get back to OAK.