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From CNN Correspondent Kalin Thomas-Samuel

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's the 11th hour for airline competition -- Friday is the last day the Department of Transportation hears arguments from the public for and against possible new guidelines aimed at stopping so-called "predatory" pricing practices.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, led a group of business travelers, travel agents and others to deliver their comments -- and Slaughter's constituents are mad about sky-high ticket prices and airline practices they say limit when and where they can fly.

Slaughter said that her home district has been hurt by larger airlines' drive to push smaller airlines out of the market -- and up prices.

"In here, in these papers, is a cry from people in my district for relief," Slaughter said. "We are claiming as citizens of the United States the right to decent travel at costs that people can afford."

Airfares and airline competition -- or the alleged lack of it -- have been hot topics on Capitol Hill this year. In April, Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater proposed guidelines aimed at leveling the playing field between major airlines and new or smaller carriers.

The DOT proposed fining airlines engaged in predatory practices that drive new competitors out of business. Those guidelines echo sentiments expressed by Congressional leaders.

"When a major airline goes on a route that a new entrant has gone into, reduces fares, increases capacity, and then when the new entrant goes off, they leave the route, that's not competition," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.

The DOT solicited comments on the proposed guidelines from the airline industry and the general public, giving each 60 days to respond. And as the deadline approached, the voices got louder.

"We're opposed to these guidelines which are really re-regulation of the airline industry," said David Fuscus of the Air Transport Association.

Former Clinton administration chief economic adviser Laura D'Andrea Tyson weighed in last week, calling the proposals "regulation in a different disguise" that would "disadvantage major carriers." Tyson, now dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, and two economists were paid by Northwest Airlines to write a report on the proposals.

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But Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition said that current practices already favor the major airlines.

"The message is very clear," he said. "'Do not come into my fortress hub, and if you do, plan on being eradicated quickly.'"

Fuscus, however, said it just isn't true.

"That statement shows a remarkable lack of understanding of the competitive nature of the U.S. airline industry," he said. "Airline airfares are 36 percent less expensive, there are 600 million people a year traveling, and the reason for that is the competitive nature of the industry."

Once the DOT evaluates the comments, it will finalize its guidelines. But the noise-making over airline competition won't die down anytime soon.