Not sure what the point of reporting seats sold rather than bums on seats is particularly in Ryanair's case. Of course it makes for nice
PR spin, but as Ryanair is much more dependent on ancillary revenues than others, for them bums on seats is what counts (I suppose that a lot of the no-shows, just like me, are folks who simply buy very cheap tickets without being absolutely committed to travel and thus will not be spending money on extras in advance).