As per the article, the SpaceX vehicle due for launch later this month will only carry two of the four astronauts originally planned. The two empty seats will be used by the two delayed-return astronauts when the vehicle returns in February.

That's the intended return vehicle, but "lifeboat" refers to how they will get home if they suddenly need to leave the station due to an emergency now (before the SpaceX vehicle launches).

The answer is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41470523

I don't think nasa has a concept of "lifeboat" considering there are not enough seats for everyone currently in the iss.

They're supposed to, between NASA, private US, and Russia. I was asking if that's currently being violated.

AFAIK Crew Dragon Endeavour has been retrofitted with six seats and could (suboptimally?) evacuate the six astronauts on the ISS.

"Seats" is a bit generous. They'd be strapped to the cargo palettes behind the seats, without flight suits. Definitely sub-optimal.

A few minutes of discomfort to save a life - seems OK to me.

On United, that's called "Premium Economy".

I thought they found one flight suit. Can they not use it in the cargo area?