Hello there, I'm trying to understand how 401(k) plans work in general and would very much appreciate your help. I run an aviation website and I'm writing a few (pilot pay and benefits) guide-type articles that come with a pay estimator (so I figured allowing people the option of adding the 401k contribution would be cool). I'm also aiming to be accurate, so I need to understand everything pilot pay in the USA (I'm not American).

The 401(k) limits for 2025:

- $23,500 for employee salary deferrals (simple enough, I think I get it)
- $350,000 for the income an airline can offer a matching contribution (I assume it applies to DC too?)

- $70,000 for the combined employee and employer contributions
What happens if a Matching/DC contribution exceeds this limit? Does the rest of the money go into a different account or gets paid to the pilot directly?

The airlines I'm writing the articles for are the following:

Delta Air Lines
American Airlines
United Airlines
Southwest Airlines
UPS
FedEx
Spirit Airlines
Alaska Airlines
SkyWest Airlines
Allegiant Air
JetBlue Airways
Envoy Air
Hawaiian Airlines
Frontier Airlines

So, I'd appreciate answers specific to one or several of these airlines.

 

For Alaska any excess contributions just gets refunded to the pilot (and taxed). There's a delay, don't recall if it's next month or year end.

We are looking at implementing a MBCBP, to allow tax-deferred investment of 401k excess. Some other legacies already use a MBCBP.