diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/delete/ShardDeleteRequest.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/delete/ShardDeleteRequest.java
index 2b84ad69043..6963c8fc83a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/delete/ShardDeleteRequest.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/delete/ShardDeleteRequest.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public class ShardDeleteRequest extends ShardReplicationOperationRequest<ShardDe
         refresh = in.readBoolean();
         version = Versions.readVersion(in);
         if (in.getVersion().onOrAfter(Version.V_1_4_0)) {
-            originalIndex = in.readString();
+            originalIndex = in.readOptionalString();
         }
     }
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ public class ShardDeleteRequest extends ShardReplicationOperationRequest<ShardDe
         out.writeBoolean(refresh);
         Versions.writeVersion(version, out);
         if (out.getVersion().onOrAfter(Version.V_1_4_0)) {
-            out.writeString(originalIndex);
+            out.writeOptionalString(originalIndex);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/deletebyquery/ShardDeleteByQueryRequest.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/deletebyquery/ShardDeleteByQueryRequest.java
index 9215cf765b6..2a3e40aad9a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/deletebyquery/ShardDeleteByQueryRequest.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/deletebyquery/ShardDeleteByQueryRequest.java
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ public class ShardDeleteByQueryRequest extends ShardReplicationOperationRequest<
         } else {
             nowInMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();
         }
-        originalIndices = OriginalIndices.readOriginalIndices(in);
+        originalIndices = OriginalIndices.readOptionalOriginalIndices(in);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ public class ShardDeleteByQueryRequest extends ShardReplicationOperationRequest<
         if (out.getVersion().onOrAfter(Version.V_1_2_0)) {
             out.writeVLong(nowInMillis);
         }
-        OriginalIndices.writeOriginalIndices(originalIndices, out);
+        OriginalIndices.writeOptionalOriginalIndices(originalIndices, out);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bwcompat/BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bwcompat/BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest.java
index e87c3b82970..efccea75b97 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bwcompat/BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/bwcompat/BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.LifecycleScope;
 import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.generators.RandomPicks;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Fields;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.English;
-import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalArgumentException;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthStatus;
@@ -560,8 +559,6 @@ public class BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest extends ElasticsearchBackwardsCompa
     }
 
     @Test
-    @LuceneTestCase.AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "working on this")
-    //made this tests a usual integration test to see if it fails in non bw comp mode
     public void testDeleteByQuery() throws ExecutionException, InterruptedException {
         createIndex("test");
         ensureYellow("test");
@@ -591,8 +588,6 @@ public class BasicBackwardsCompatibilityTest extends ElasticsearchBackwardsCompa
         assertThat(searchResponse.getHits().totalHits(), equalTo(1l));
     }
 
-    @LuceneTestCase.AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "working on this")
-    //made this tests a usual integration test to see if it fails in non bw comp mode
     @Test
     public void testDeleteRoutingRequired() throws ExecutionException, InterruptedException, IOException {
         assertAcked(prepareCreate("test").addMapping("test",