diff --git a/tests/custom_cluster/test_admission_controller.py b/tests/custom_cluster/test_admission_controller.py
index d21c268..010cfb0 100644
--- a/tests/custom_cluster/test_admission_controller.py
+++ b/tests/custom_cluster/test_admission_controller.py
@@ -721,7 +721,7 @@
     """Checks if the num of queries accounted by query_locations and in-flight are as
     expected"""
     # Wait for queries to start/un-register.
-    self.impalad_test_service.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(expected_num)
+    assert self.impalad_test_service.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(expected_num)
     query_locations = self.impalad_test_service.get_query_locations()
     for host, num_q in query_locations.items():
       assert num_q == expected_num, "There should be {0} running queries on either " \
diff --git a/tests/custom_cluster/test_client_ssl.py b/tests/custom_cluster/test_client_ssl.py
index f5ada13..6be167e 100644
--- a/tests/custom_cluster/test_client_ssl.py
+++ b/tests/custom_cluster/test_client_ssl.py
@@ -84,11 +84,11 @@
 
     # Test cancelling a query
     impalad = ImpaladService(socket.getfqdn())
-    impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
+    assert impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
     p = ImpalaShell(args="--ssl")
     p.send_cmd("SET DEBUG_ACTION=0:OPEN:WAIT")
     p.send_cmd("select count(*) from functional.alltypes")
-    impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(1)
+    assert impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(1)
 
     LOG = logging.getLogger('test_client_ssl')
     LOG.info("Cancelling query")
@@ -216,13 +216,13 @@
   def _validate_positive_cases(self, ca_cert=""):
     shell_options = "--ssl -q 'select 1 + 2'"
 
-    result = run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_options)
+    result = run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_options, wait_until_connected=False)
     for msg in [self.SSL_ENABLED, self.CONNECTED, self.FETCHED]:
       assert msg in result.stderr
 
     if ca_cert != "":
       shell_options = shell_options + (" --ca_cert=%s" % ca_cert)
-      result = run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_options)
+      result = run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_options, wait_until_connected=False)
       for msg in [self.SSL_ENABLED, self.CONNECTED, self.FETCHED]:
         assert msg in result.stderr
 
diff --git a/tests/custom_cluster/test_shell_interactive_reconnect.py b/tests/custom_cluster/test_shell_interactive_reconnect.py
index b5a9065..94f1a7e 100644
--- a/tests/custom_cluster/test_shell_interactive_reconnect.py
+++ b/tests/custom_cluster/test_shell_interactive_reconnect.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 
     # wait for the USE command to finish
     impalad.wait_for_metric_value(NUM_QUERIES, start_num_queries + 1)
-    impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
+    assert impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
 
     self._start_impala_cluster([])
 
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
 
     # wait for the USE command to finish
     impalad.wait_for_metric_value(NUM_QUERIES, start_num_queries + 1)
-    impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
+    assert impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
 
     # Disconnect
     self.cluster.impalads[0].kill()
diff --git a/tests/shell/test_shell_commandline.py b/tests/shell/test_shell_commandline.py
index b69bece..819af88 100644
--- a/tests/shell/test_shell_commandline.py
+++ b/tests/shell/test_shell_commandline.py
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
     assert "Query: use `parquet`" in result.stderr, result.stderr
 
   def test_unsecure_message(self):
-    results = run_impala_shell_cmd("")
+    results = run_impala_shell_cmd("", wait_until_connected=False)
     assert "Starting Impala Shell without Kerberos authentication" in results.stderr
 
   def test_print_header(self, populated_table):
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@
 
     # Testing config file related warning and error messages
     args = '--config_file=%s/impalarc_with_warnings' % QUERY_FILE_PATH
-    result = run_impala_shell_cmd(args, expect_success=True)
+    result = run_impala_shell_cmd(args, expect_success=True, wait_until_connected=False)
     assert "WARNING: Option 'config_file' can be only set from shell." in result.stderr
     err_msg = ("WARNING: Unable to read configuration file correctly. "
                "Ignoring unrecognized config option: 'invalid_option'\n")
diff --git a/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py b/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
index e787bf4..85c1ee7 100755
--- a/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
+++ b/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@
   @pytest.mark.execute_serially
   def test_cancellation(self):
     impalad = ImpaladService(socket.getfqdn())
-    impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
+    assert impalad.wait_for_num_in_flight_queries(0)
     command = "select sleep(10000);"
     p = ImpalaShell()
     p.send_cmd(command)
@@ -207,7 +207,8 @@
   def test_disconnected_shell(self):
     """Test that the shell presents a disconnected prompt if it can't connect
     """
-    result = run_impala_shell_interactive('asdf;', shell_args='-i foo')
+    result = run_impala_shell_interactive('asdf;', shell_args='-i foo',
+                                          wait_until_connected=False)
     assert ImpalaShellClass.DISCONNECTED_PROMPT in result.stdout
 
   def test_bash_cmd_timing(self):
@@ -751,7 +752,7 @@
       assert "Fetched 0 row" in result.stderr
 
 
-def run_impala_shell_interactive(input_lines, shell_args=None):
+def run_impala_shell_interactive(input_lines, shell_args=None, wait_until_connected=True):
   """Runs a command in the Impala shell interactively."""
   # if argument "input_lines" is a string, makes it into a list
   if type(input_lines) is str:
@@ -760,7 +761,7 @@
   # since piping defaults to ascii
   my_env = os.environ
   my_env['PYTHONIOENCODING'] = 'utf-8'
-  p = ImpalaShell(args=shell_args, env=my_env)
+  p = ImpalaShell(args=shell_args, env=my_env, wait_until_connected=wait_until_connected)
   for line in input_lines:
     p.send_cmd(line)
   return p.get_result()
diff --git a/tests/shell/util.py b/tests/shell/util.py
index 6c1df0e..f49cbfe 100755
--- a/tests/shell/util.py
+++ b/tests/shell/util.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 import pytest
 import re
 import shlex
-import shutil
+import time
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
 IMPALAD_HOST_PORT_LIST = pytest.config.option.impalad.split(',')
@@ -85,13 +85,16 @@
   m = re.search(pattern, text, re.MULTILINE)
   assert m and m.group(0) == result, message
 
-def run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_args, expect_success=True, stdin_input=None):
+
+def run_impala_shell_cmd(shell_args, expect_success=True, stdin_input=None,
+                         wait_until_connected=True):
   """Runs the Impala shell on the commandline.
 
   'shell_args' is a string which represents the commandline options.
   Returns a ImpalaShellResult.
   """
-  result = run_impala_shell_cmd_no_expect(shell_args, stdin_input)
+  result = run_impala_shell_cmd_no_expect(shell_args, stdin_input,
+                                          expect_success and wait_until_connected)
   if expect_success:
     assert result.rc == 0, "Cmd %s was expected to succeed: %s" % (shell_args,
                                                                    result.stderr)
@@ -99,7 +102,9 @@
     assert result.rc != 0, "Cmd %s was expected to fail" % shell_args
   return result
 
-def run_impala_shell_cmd_no_expect(shell_args, stdin_input=None):
+
+def run_impala_shell_cmd_no_expect(shell_args, stdin_input=None,
+                                   wait_until_connected=True):
   """Runs the Impala shell on the commandline.
 
   'shell_args' is a string which represents the commandline options.
@@ -107,23 +112,34 @@
 
   Does not assert based on success or failure of command.
   """
-  p = ImpalaShell(shell_args)
+  p = ImpalaShell(shell_args, wait_until_connected=wait_until_connected)
   result = p.get_result(stdin_input)
-  cmd = "%s %s" % (SHELL_CMD, shell_args)
   return result
 
+
 class ImpalaShellResult(object):
   def __init__(self):
     self.rc = 0
     self.stdout = str()
     self.stderr = str()
 
+
 class ImpalaShell(object):
   """A single instance of the Impala shell. The proces is started when this object is
      constructed, and then users should repeatedly call send_cmd(), followed eventually by
-     get_result() to retrieve the process output."""
-  def __init__(self, args=None, env=None):
+     get_result() to retrieve the process output. This constructor will wait until
+     Impala shell is connected for the specified timeout unless wait_util_connected is
+     set to False or --quiet is passed into the args"""
+  def __init__(self, args=None, env=None, wait_until_connected=True, timeout=60):
     self.shell_process = self._start_new_shell_process(args, env=env)
+    # When --quiet option is passed to Impala shell, we should not wait until we see
+    # "Connected to" because it will never be printed to stderr.
+    if wait_until_connected and (args is None or "--quiet" not in args):
+      start_time = time.time()
+      connected = False
+      while time.time() - start_time < timeout and not connected:
+        connected = "Connected to" in self.shell_process.stderr.readline()
+      assert connected, "Impala shell is not connected"
 
   def pid(self):
     return self.shell_process.pid