Are you traveling on your own time or company time, or if the latter is it a travel day and nothing is expected of a person other than to get there to be ready to work the next morning? Meaning, does anybody care how long you are in the air and what logo is on the tail? If they do, do they care if you waste your own time getting home (and there are a few really appealing places to eat behind security in DFW anyway)?

Is it necessary or expected to travel together on the same flight and airline anyway? Someone in your work group may need to maintain status on still another carrier. Does it matter?

My current employer gives airline carte blanche so long as its booked through the official travel vendor, is about the same price, and gets you there in time to get some sleep (partly because counting shared private shuttles, its a spread-out three-airport town without public transit to the airport). A prior employer bid air travel out annually and it took a policy waiver that was not worth the effort to book elsewhere, even if the contracted carrier took longer and the up-front price was higher. Meaning, is there an existing policy that answers the question for you?