diff --git a/shell/impala_client.py b/shell/impala_client.py
index 66eed04..aaccf61 100755
--- a/shell/impala_client.py
+++ b/shell/impala_client.py
@@ -129,6 +129,17 @@
       return self.value
 
 
+class CodeCheckingHttpClient(THttpClient):
+  """Add HTTP response code handling to THttpClient."""
+  def flush(self):
+    THttpClient.flush(self)
+    # At this point the http call has completed.
+    if self.code >= 300:
+      # Report any http response code that is not 1XX (informational response) or
+      # 2XX (successful).
+      raise RPCException("HTTP code {}: {}".format(self.code, self.message))
+
+
 def print_to_stderr(message):
   print >> sys.stderr, message
 
@@ -394,10 +405,11 @@
       else:
         ssl_ctx.check_hostname = False  # Mandated by the SSL lib for CERT_NONE mode.
         ssl_ctx.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE
-      transport = THttpClient(
+      transport = CodeCheckingHttpClient(
           "https://{0}/{1}".format(host_and_port, self.http_path), ssl_context=ssl_ctx)
     else:
-      transport = THttpClient("http://{0}/{1}".format(host_and_port, self.http_path))
+      transport = CodeCheckingHttpClient("http://{0}/{1}".
+          format(host_and_port, self.http_path))
 
     if self.use_ldap:
       # Set the BASIC auth header
diff --git a/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py b/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
index d95180e..a68b2ef 100755
--- a/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
+++ b/tests/shell/test_shell_interactive.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+import httplib
 import logging
 import os
 import pexpect
@@ -26,7 +27,9 @@
 import signal
 import socket
 import sys
+import threading
 from time import sleep
+from contextlib import closing
 
 # This import is the actual ImpalaShell class from impala_shell.py.
 # We rename it to ImpalaShellClass here because we later import another
@@ -40,7 +43,9 @@
 from tests.common.skip import SkipIfLocal
 from tests.common.test_dimensions import create_client_protocol_dimension
 from util import (assert_var_substitution, ImpalaShell, get_impalad_port, get_shell_cmd,
-                  get_open_sessions_metric)
+                  get_open_sessions_metric, IMPALA_SHELL_EXECUTABLE)
+import SimpleHTTPServer
+import SocketServer
 
 QUERY_FILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.environ['IMPALA_HOME'], 'tests', 'shell')
 
@@ -70,6 +75,20 @@
   return tmp.name
 
 
+class UnavailableRequestHandler(SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
+  """An HTTP server that always returns 503"""
+  def do_POST(self):
+    self.send_response(code=httplib.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, message="Service Unavailable")
+
+
+def get_unused_port():
+  """ Find an unused port http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1365265 """
+  with closing(socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)) as s:
+    s.bind(('', 0))
+    s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
+    return s.getsockname()[1]
+
+
 class TestImpalaShellInteractive(ImpalaTestSuite):
   """Test the impala shell interactively"""
 
@@ -842,6 +861,34 @@
       result = p.get_result()
       assert "Fetched 0 row" in result.stderr
 
+  def test_http_codes(self, vector):
+    """Check that the shell prints a good message when using hs2-http protocol
+    and the http server returns a 503 error."""
+    protocol = vector.get_value("protocol")
+    if protocol != 'hs2-http':
+      pytest.skip()
+
+    # Start an http server that always returns 503.
+    HOST = "localhost"
+    PORT = get_unused_port()
+    httpd = None
+    http_server_thread = None
+    try:
+      httpd = SocketServer.TCPServer((HOST, PORT), UnavailableRequestHandler)
+      http_server_thread = threading.Thread(target=httpd.serve_forever)
+      http_server_thread.start()
+
+      # Check that we get a message about the 503 error when we try to connect.
+      shell_args = ["--protocol={0}".format(protocol), "-i{0}:{1}".format(HOST, PORT)]
+      shell_proc = pexpect.spawn(IMPALA_SHELL_EXECUTABLE, shell_args)
+      shell_proc.expect("HTTP code 503", timeout=10)
+    finally:
+      # Clean up.
+      if httpd is not None:
+        httpd.shutdown()
+      if http_server_thread is not None:
+        http_server_thread.join()
+
 
 def run_impala_shell_interactive(vector, input_lines, shell_args=None,
                                  wait_until_connected=True):