How much would you pay to be sure you wouldn’t get stuck in a middle seat on a 3-hour flight? Would you pay $2,000? You know airline fees have been a little crazy lately, but this sounds pretty extreme.

Famed consumer advocate Ralph Nader says American Airlines tried to charge him nearly $2,000 extra recently to get an aisle seat for an upcoming flight.

American Airlines says there is no such thing as $2,000 aisle seat fee. But Nader was informed , repeatedly, that the only way he could be sure he’d be able to get an aisle seat to accommodate his large 6-foot, 4-inch frame on an upcoming Hartford, Conn., to Dallas-Ft. Worth flight was to buy a different ticket than the $750 ticket he already had -- one that would cost him $2,680, or almost $2,000 more.

"I knew that it might be $50 more for aisle seats. But they said, 'Oh no. The only choice is pay $2,680 or be an elite traveler,’" Nader said. "It's extortion. They are charging you for knee lengths."

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It is beyond nickle and diming it, at this point it's financial rape.