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Air travelers frustrated by having very little legroom and narrow seats might finally see some relief under legislation passed Wednesday by the U.S. Senate. A bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, which passed on a vote of 93-6, includes a provision requiring the FAA to set a minimum size for commercial airplane seats, including a minimum pitch, or distance between seats.

Airlines have been shrinking that distance in recent years in order to cram more seats and passengers onto planes and squeeze more revenue out of each flight.

The bill also provides nearly $1.7 billion in disaster aid to help residents in the Carolinas and other states recover from Hurricane Florence and other recent disasters. Lawmakers say that the funding for those affected by Hurricane Florence is just a down payment and that billions of dollars of additional funding will probably be needed in the future.

The House passed the FAA bill last week, and the White House has indicated that President Trump intends to sign the bill into law.

The bill tackles a wide range of problems that have raised the ire of air travelers. In addition to mandating a minimum size for airplane seats to stop the shrinking of legroom, the legislation also prohibits airlines from removing passengers from overbooked planes after they've boarded.

In April 2017, a United Airlines passenger who refused to give up his seat was violently dragged off a plane by security officers at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Video of the incident, showing the dragging of the passenger with a bloodied face, went viral, sparking worldwide outrage and prompting Congress to hold hearings on the practice of overbooking and bumping passengers from flights.

But the bill does not address another major irritant to air travelers: the nickel-and-dime fees the airlines charge to check luggage or change reservations. A provision approved by a Senate committee would have limited fees for checked baggage and fees to change or cancel a flight, making them "reasonable" that is, closer to the actual cost of providing the service. Airlines raked in nearly $7.5 billion from those fees last year, helping boost their bottom lines to near-record profits.