What airline did you fly on? Reason I ask; We flew LAX-MCO on Jet Blue. While we waited to board @ LAX, we were next to a gate that was unloading a Spirit ORD-LAX flight. We could not believe how many people came off that plane! They just kept coming - hundreds of people! Our Jet Blue flight was maybe 50% full, but then Jet Blue doesn't have nearly the fire sale
ticket prices that Spirit has. I was tracking it since I booked our trip in 2019 and the price had come all the way down to $58 RT on Spirit (!) You could fly cheaper than you could check your bags - crazy! Jet Blue flight back was also about 50% full, no center seats full unless it is the person you are travelling with on both flights.
BTW - have you flown on a new Jet Blue plane yet? GORGEOUS!!! We flew on an older Jet Blue plane on the way out - nice, but a bit worn. Only about 1/2 the channels worked on the TV's and the WiFi was glitchy. The new planes though - WOW! They have this all-new entertainment system that had about 60 channels, all worked flawlessly, dozens of HBO movies, a bunch of podcast channels, the WiFi worked perfectly. The new planes also have power ports between each seat so you can plug in a regular AC plug or USB - that was a really nice touch. Not only that, but they handed out "sanitation packs" as we got on the plane that had 2 disinfectant wipes and a small pack of hand sanitizer in a sealed bag. They came down the aisle every 30 minutes or so to collect garbage so you don't leave it in the seat back. Snacks both ways were sealed bags containing small bottles of water, cookies and these weird seed bar snacks. No soft drinks, alcohol or any of that thanks to COVID.