The way I understand it is yes, after 280K, the company cannot contribute to a retirement account. United had two options when a pilot reached 280K, put the 16% on top of regular pay with the pilot then paying ordinary income taxes on it or, and luckily decided upon; put the 16% into the RHA account tax free. You never stop receiving your 16% contribution from the company, you just cannot contribute it to your 401k. It goes to the RHA (Retiree Health Account for those not at UAL), which is invested in the targeted based retirement account tailored to your year of retirement and grows tax free until you hit the retirement age and are eligible to start using that money (around 300K for a typical pilot hired in his/her 30s) for health related expenses in retirement.

What YOU decide to do with pre-tax 401K contributions is limited to either 19,500(plus 6,000 if over 50) or the combination of the company’s contribution plus yours for a total of 56,000 pre tax. You can always contribute to a retirement account post tax (and I do so heavily) when you max out your pre tax accounts. I choose to limit my 401K contributions to an amount that limits the spillover as much as possible but then I contribute post tax to separate retirement accounts. This ensures I get the max amount from my B fund going into my 401K and when, around the end of September, I see the spillover emails, I adjust my contribution to make sure I hit the 56,000 limit. My goal is to match the 56,000 in a post tax account as well so I’ll hit my target goal at age 64.