diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.html b/RELEASE-NOTES.html
index 861f3188a..d58e865ac 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.html
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.html
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ If this causes major headaches to anyone please contact commons-dev at jakarta.a
 <li>BeanMap.initialize() - Internal variable now correctly initialised with only write methods that actually exist [15895]</li>
 <li>TransformedMap.putAll - Now allows putAll of an empty map [34686]</li>
 <li>AbstractHashedMap deserialization - Fix to prevent doubling of internal data array [34265]</li>
+<li>Flat3Map.equals() - Fix to make flat mode comparison actually work [34917]</li>
 </ul>
 
 <center><h3>JAVADOC</h3></center>
diff --git a/project.xml b/project.xml
index f55199cf7..986f96a10 100644
--- a/project.xml
+++ b/project.xml
@@ -245,6 +245,9 @@
     <contributor>
       <name>Kasper Nielsen</name>
     </contributor>
+    <contributor>
+      <name>Stanislaw Osinski</name>
+    </contributor>
     <contributor>
       <name>Alban Peignier</name>
     </contributor>
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/commons/collections/map/Flat3Map.java b/src/java/org/apache/commons/collections/map/Flat3Map.java
index e64afc54d..18c38d518 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/commons/collections/map/Flat3Map.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/commons/collections/map/Flat3Map.java
@@ -1041,24 +1041,27 @@ public class Flat3Map implements IterableMap, Serializable, Cloneable {
             switch (size) {  // drop through
                 case 3:
                     if (other.containsKey(key3) == false) {
-                        otherValue = other.get(key3);
-                        if (value3 == null ? otherValue != null : !value3.equals(otherValue)) {
-                            return false;
-                        }
+                        return false;
+                    }
+                    otherValue = other.get(key3);
+                    if (value3 == null ? otherValue != null : !value3.equals(otherValue)) {
+                        return false;
                     }
                 case 2:
                     if (other.containsKey(key2) == false) {
-                        otherValue = other.get(key2);
-                        if (value2 == null ? otherValue != null : !value2.equals(otherValue)) {
-                            return false;
-                        }
+                        return false;
+                    }
+                    otherValue = other.get(key2);
+                    if (value2 == null ? otherValue != null : !value2.equals(otherValue)) {
+                        return false;
                     }
                 case 1:
                     if (other.containsKey(key1) == false) {
-                        otherValue = other.get(key1);
-                        if (value1 == null ? otherValue != null : !value1.equals(otherValue)) {
-                            return false;
-                        }
+                        return false;
+                    }
+                    otherValue = other.get(key1);
+                    if (value1 == null ? otherValue != null : !value1.equals(otherValue)) {
+                        return false;
                     }
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/commons/collections/map/TestFlat3Map.java b/src/test/org/apache/commons/collections/map/TestFlat3Map.java
index 89ae5f86d..437803075 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/commons/collections/map/TestFlat3Map.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/commons/collections/map/TestFlat3Map.java
@@ -59,6 +59,26 @@ public class TestFlat3Map extends AbstractTestIterableMap {
     }
 
     //-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+    public void testEquals1() {
+        Flat3Map map1 = new Flat3Map();
+        map1.put("a", "testA");
+        map1.put("b", "testB");
+        Flat3Map map2 = new Flat3Map();
+        map2.put("a", "testB");
+        map2.put("b", "testA");
+        assertEquals(false, map1.equals(map2));
+    }
+
+    public void testEquals2() {
+        Flat3Map map1 = new Flat3Map();
+        map1.put("a", "testA");
+        map1.put("b", "testB");
+        Flat3Map map2 = new Flat3Map();
+        map2.put("a", "testB");
+        map2.put("c", "testA");
+        assertEquals(false, map1.equals(map2));
+    }
+
     public void testClone2() {
         Flat3Map map = new Flat3Map();
         assertEquals(0, map.size());