I think load factors are a funny issue: most flights have many empty seats. It's a small number of flights, on a small number of planes, that are packed. The last time UA announced load factors on Sep 6, they reported 78% ... since this is an average, you can bet that many flights are half empty: but the flying public is more accustomed to seeing full planes.
I was scheduled to fly yesterday, and have been easily accomodated for today -- presuming we get the groundstop lifted.
/jordan