Who honestly cares about the DOT stats? Seriously. I know they are popular for those that can twist them to make their point, but what do they really tell you?

IDBs, especially, is a completely useless statistic. Even on the worst carriers, the rates are so low that you would have to have no understanding of probability to actually base a purchasing decision on it. Even if you valued not being bumped at $10k, then you should spend maybe $1 more to fly the "best" carrier vs DL.

Delays would seem more important, on the surface, but the picture is actually pretty cloudy. There is so much differentiation between airports that it makes the differences between airlines seem trivial. For instance, if you routinely fly to ATL, then DL is actually a far better bet than any of the other legacies. Indeed, Comair and DL's lesser on-time performance is pretty well explained by their having the 1st and 2nd highest rate of Air Traffic delays - hardly their fault. The reality is that, were you to actually choose carriers on this metric, then it would lead you to not be loyal at all, as no carrier shows a clear advantage across airports.

Misplaced baggage. While this is more common than IDB, the numbers are still pretty low, and you would have to place a huge premium on not losing luggage to actually pay more than pocket change more.

At best, 2 of the 5 factors being paraded here are of even minimal value in determining the quality of the carrier.