Catching a plane over the holidays.....
...has anyone EVER been on the plane with only a dozen people. Its the hardest time of the year to try and get a flight.
shareSomething similar actually happened:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/delta-flight-travels-from-cleveland-to-new-york-with-just-2-passengers/ar-AA88vzh
Plane wasn't a 747 from East to West coasts, but still, they actually bothered to fly despite having a nearly empty plane. And considering it usually snows during the holidays, it could be possible a similar situation happened in the movie like what happened in Cleveland.
Then there is the fact airlines keep a tight schedule, flying the planes constantly in between the usual maintenance checks. This means that if that empty plane doesn't fly to its intended destination, they will be short and have to either refund the tickets, or try to squeeze the passengers on other flights. Which then makes flying the plane, empty or not, advantageous in the long run to keep business flowing smoothly.