diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3873b0ba6..48e8b27ba 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
 			<artifactId>spring-webflux</artifactId>
+			<version>5.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<optional>true</optional>
 		</dependency>
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
index d17cbf3cc..984d0785b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHits;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.Aggregation;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.suggest.Suggest;
 import org.reactivestreams.Publisher;
-
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.ClientConfiguration;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.ClientLogger;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.ElasticsearchHost;
@@ -119,7 +118,6 @@ import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.util.ScrollState;
 import org.springframework.data.util.Lazy;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
-import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.http.client.reactive.ReactorClientHttpConnector;
 import org.springframework.lang.Nullable;
@@ -574,7 +572,7 @@ public class DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient implements ReactiveElasticsearch
 	 * @see org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.reactive.ReactiveElasticsearchClient#ping(org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client.reactive.ReactiveElasticsearchClient.ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback)
 	 */
 	@Override
-	public Mono<ClientResponse> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback callback) {
+	public <T> Mono<T> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback<T> callback) {
 
 		return this.hostProvider.getActive(Verification.LAZY) //
 				.flatMap(callback::doWithClient) //
@@ -617,11 +615,11 @@ public class DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient implements ReactiveElasticsearch
 
 		String logId = ClientLogger.newLogId();
 
-		return execute(webClient -> sendRequest(webClient, logId, request, headers))
-				.flatMapMany(response -> readResponseBody(logId, request, response, responseType));
+		return Flux.from(execute(webClient -> sendRequest(webClient, logId, request, headers)
+				.exchangeToMono(clientResponse -> Mono.from(readResponseBody(logId, request, clientResponse, responseType)))));
 	}
 
-	private Mono<ClientResponse> sendRequest(WebClient webClient, String logId, Request request, HttpHeaders headers) {
+	private RequestBodySpec sendRequest(WebClient webClient, String logId, Request request, HttpHeaders headers) {
 
 		RequestBodySpec requestBodySpec = webClient.method(HttpMethod.valueOf(request.getMethod().toUpperCase())) //
 				.uri(builder -> {
@@ -669,9 +667,7 @@ public class DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClient implements ReactiveElasticsearch
 			ClientLogger.logRequest(logId, request.getMethod().toUpperCase(), request.getEndpoint(), request.getParameters());
 		}
 
-		return requestBodySpec //
-				.exchange() //
-				.onErrorReturn(ConnectException.class, ClientResponse.create(HttpStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE).build());
+		return requestBodySpec;
 	}
 
 	// region indices operations
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/ReactiveElasticsearchClient.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/ReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
index 61f1e6005..9130e9f1e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/ReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/ReactiveElasticsearchClient.java
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ public interface ReactiveElasticsearchClient {
 	 * @return the {@link Mono} emitting the {@link ClientResponse} once subscribed.
 	 */
 	@SuppressWarnings("JavaDoc")
-	Mono<ClientResponse> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback callback);
+	<T> Mono<T> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback<T> callback);
 
 	/**
 	 * Get the current client {@link Status}. <br />
@@ -633,8 +633,8 @@ public interface ReactiveElasticsearchClient {
 	 * @author Christoph Strobl
 	 * @since 3.2
 	 */
-	interface ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback {
-		Mono<ClientResponse> doWithClient(WebClient client);
+	interface ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback<T> {
+		Mono<T> doWithClient(WebClient client);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClientTest.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClientTest.java
index 7e7000bd1..a4dcd7003 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClientTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/reactive/DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClientTest.java
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;
 import static org.elasticsearch.search.internal.SearchContext.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.search.fetch.subphase.FetchSourceContext;
 import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
+import reactor.test.StepVerifier;
 
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
@@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Request;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.builder.SearchSourceBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.fetch.subphase.FetchSourceContext;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
 import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.ClientResponse;
-import reactor.test.StepVerifier;
+import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient.ResponseSpec;
 
 /**
  * @author Peter-Josef Meisch
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ class DefaultReactiveElasticsearchClientTest {
 			}
 		}) {
 			@Override
-			public Mono<ClientResponse> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback callback) {
+			public Mono<ResponseSpec> execute(ReactiveElasticsearchClientCallback callback) {
 				return Mono.empty();
 			}
 		};