Southwest Airlines Co. 401(k) match: 9.3% of pay
Southwest Airlines Co. Retirement Savings Plan · LUV · CIK 92380
Employer match stated in the filing, as a share of pay
9.3%
Southwest Airlines Co. discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 9.3% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Southwest Airlines puts in, and what the plan costs
What Southwest Airlines put into the plan, per active participant
$6,490
Southwest Airlines Co. put $6,490 into this plan for each of its 74,221 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
Southwest Airlines put in more per active participant than 87% of plans with 5,000+ participants in transportation and logistics. The middle plan in that group of 124 reported $1,783. Transportation and logistics comes from business code 481000, which Southwest Airlines entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Southwest Airlines pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 741563240, plan 004 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $6,490 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Southwest Airlines Co. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $4,604 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What Southwest Airlines puts in
$4,604
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The filing discloses only part of the formula. The most it states the employer adds is 9.3% of pay, for a worker contributing 9.3% of pay.
The match paragraph, word for word
“If participants are not governed by a collective bargaining agreement, the Company matching contribution is determined at the sole and absolute discretion of the Board of Directors of the Company. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company contributed a matching contribution equal to 100 percent of each of the Plan's participants' salary reduction contributions, up to 9.3 percent for the majority of each participants' compensation for all collectively bargained and non-collectively bargained Employees.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 9.3% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $4,604 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
57.14 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 4% of the 253 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are always fully vested in their own contributions, Company non-elective contributions, and applicable earnings on those contributions. Participants vest in Company matching and profit-sharing contributions at 20 percent per year of vesting service up to five years, after which they are fully vested. A participant who is credited with 1,000 hours or more of service during any Plan year will accumulate one year of vesting service. Additionally, a participant is also 100 percent vested upon attainment of normal retirement age, which is age 59½, disability, or death, even if the participant does not have five years of vesting service at that time.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
42nd percentile
$46.99 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 58% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Southwest Airlines' 401(k) match formula?
Southwest Airlines discloses only part of its 401(k) match terms: it matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 9.3% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 9.3% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 9.3% of compensation |
| Rate actually paid this plan yearAs reported in the filing. | For the year ended December 31, 2025 the Company contributed a matching contribution equal to 100 percent of salary reduction contributions, up to 9.3 percent of compensation for the majority of participants |
| Conditions | Matching contributions equal a specified percentage of salary reduction contributions, not to exceed specified dollar amounts, as set forth in collective bargaining agreements where applicable; for participants not governed by a CBA the match is determined at the sole and absolute discretion of the Board of Directors; 'up to 9.3 percent for the majority' implies unit-level variation |
| Other employer contribution | Profit-sharing contribution: absent Board action to the contrary, equal to 15 percent of the operating profit of the Company (less the Company contribution to the Southwest Airlines Co. 2005 Deferred Compensation Plan for Pilots); allocated to participants credited with at least 1,000 hours of service during the plan year |
| Other employer contribution | Company non-elective contributions: per collective bargaining agreements or at Board discretion for non-CBA groups |
What the filing says, word for word
“If participants are not governed by a collective bargaining agreement, the Company matching contribution is determined at the sole and absolute discretion of the Board of Directors of the Company. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company contributed a matching contribution equal to 100 percent of each of the Plan's participants' salary reduction contributions, up to 9.3 percent for the majority of each participants' compensation for all collectively bargained and non-collectively bargained Employees.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Southwest Airlines' 401(k) vesting schedule?
Southwest Airlines vests the employer match on a graded schedule: 20% after one year, rising to 100% after five. Each step is money that leaves with you that year, which is how a graded schedule differs from a cliff.
| Employer match vesting | Graded: 20% at 1 yr, 40% at 2 yr, 60% at 3 yr, 80% at 4 yr, 100% at 5 yr |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Year of service | 1,000 hours or more of service credited during a Plan year |
| Accelerated vesting | 100 percent vested upon attainment of normal retirement age (59 1/2), disability, or death |
| Other employer contributions | Company non-elective contributions are always fully vested; profit-sharing contributions vest on the same 20 percent per year schedule as matching contributions |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are always fully vested in their own contributions, Company non-elective contributions, and applicable earnings on those contributions. Participants vest in Company matching and profit-sharing contributions at 20 percent per year of vesting service up to five years, after which they are fully vested. A participant who is credited with 1,000 hours or more of service during any Plan year will accumulate one year of vesting service. Additionally, a participant is also 100 percent vested upon attainment of normal retirement age, which is age 59½, disability, or death, even if the participant does not have five years of vesting service at that time.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Southwest Airlines' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Southwest Airlines enrolls new hires automatically at 3% of pay.
| Plan entry | Salary reduction contributions: first day of the month after completing a full calendar month of service; profit-sharing contributions: first day of employment |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Employees governed by a collective bargaining agreement unless the agreement provides for membership; nonresident aliens with no U.S.-source earned income; leased employees; interns |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 3% of pay; 90-day opt-out window; default investment: Appropriate Retirement Target Fund based on an assumed retirement age of 65 |
Eligibility, word for word
“Eligible Employees of the Company may participate in the Plan for salary reduction contributions at any time on or after the first day of the month after completing a full calendar month of service. On the Effective Date, each Company Employee became eligible to participate in the Plan for profit-sharing contributions on the first day of employment. Employees whose conditions of employment are governed by a collective bargaining agreement between the Company and a labor union are not eligible for membership in the Plan unless the collective bargaining agreement specifically provides for membership in the Plan.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“The Plan includes an automatic enrollment feature whereby a new Employee, upon meeting the eligibility requirements, is automatically enrolled in the Plan at a contribution rate of 3 percent. An Employee who has been automatically enrolled in the Plan may elect, at any time before the 90th day following the Employee's first salary reduction contribution to the Plan pursuant to the automatic enrollment, to withdraw all salary reduction contributions (adjusted for earnings and/or losses attributable thereto) made to the Plan prior to such withdrawal election.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Southwest Airlines plan report on Form 5500?
The Southwest Airlines plan reported $17.0B in assets and 76,550 participants for plan year 2024.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
| Plan named in the DOL record | Southwest Airlines Co. Retirement Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $16,991,748,637 |
| Participants | 76,550 |
| Recordkeeper | Empower |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $46.99 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $46.99 per participant. The median across plans in transportation and logistics is $95.71, from the 1,843 of 1,926 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The plan reports Empower as its recordkeeper, one of 7,876 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 7,814 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $165.69 per participant.
How does Southwest Airlines' 401(k) match compare?
Southwest Airlines Co.'s maximum 401(k) match of 9.3% of pay compares with a median of 4.5% across the 181 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in transportation and logistics, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in transportation and logistics.
Employer match vests immediately. Also in transportation and logistics.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in transportation and logistics.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Empower.
No employer match in the filing. Same recordkeeper, Empower.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also fully vested after 5 years, like Southwest Airlines.
Compare Southwest Airlines Co. with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Empower ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Southwest Airlines Co.'s 401(k) match?
Southwest Airlines Co. discloses only part of its match terms in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025; it matches 100% of employee contributions up to 9.3% of eligible pay.
When does the Southwest Airlines Co. 401(k) match vest?
Graded: 20% at 1 yr, 40% at 2 yr, 60% at 3 yr, 80% at 4 yr, 100% at 5 yr.
Does Southwest Airlines Co.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 3% of pay; 90-day opt-out window; default investment: Appropriate Retirement Target Fund based on an assumed retirement age of 65.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Southwest Airlines Co. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000092380-26-000071, plan year ended 2025-12-31.