Southwest Rapid Rewards - Explain this WN yield management to me

Bought two tickets last Thursday to fly DEN-SMF on Saturday, 2 days later. Got $122 WGA fares. Show up at the gate at DEN and the flight is oversold and they are looking for volunteers. I get the concept of overselling flights, but it seems like in this case Southwest did not. Why sell cheap seats at the last minute when your plane is going to be oversold and you'll be giving out $300 vouchers? Am I missing something?

Bought two tickets last Thursday to fly DEN-SMF on Saturday, 2 days later. Got $122 WGA fares. Show up at the gate at DEN and the flight is oversold and they are looking for volunteers. I get the concept of overselling flights, but it seems like in this case Southwest did not. Why sell cheap seats at the last minute when your plane is going to be oversold and you'll be giving out $300 vouchers? Am I missing something?

No, you're not missing anything. Sounds like a WN revenue management analyst was asleep at the wheel. $122 fare 3 days in advance for a holiday weekend -- doesn't really make sense for a full flight.

Could've had IROPS,MX, or CX on earlier flights that day. SW still wins as a large percentage of VDB certs go unused. Also, more then likely the ticket will cost more then the cert issued and people will pay money out of pocket and also could have people traveling with them to bring in more revenue. SW RM knew what they where doing.