diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataIndexAliasesService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataIndexAliasesService.java
index 62ab74a5ab7..0f15df8215b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataIndexAliasesService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataIndexAliasesService.java
@@ -159,10 +159,16 @@ public class MetaDataIndexAliasesService extends AbstractComponent {
 
                     if (changed) {
                         ClusterState updatedState = newClusterStateBuilder().state(currentState).metaData(builder).build();
+                        // even though changes happened, they resulted in 0 actual changes to metadata
+                        // i.e. remove and add the same alias to the same index
+                        if (updatedState.metaData().aliases().equals(currentState.metaData().aliases())) {
+                            listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
+                            return currentState;
+                        }
                         // wait for responses from other nodes if needed
-                        int responseCount = updatedState.getNodes().size();
+                        int responseCount = updatedState.nodes().size();
                         long version = updatedState.version() + 1;
-                        logger.trace("Waiting for [{}] notifications with version [{}]", responseCount, version);
+                        logger.trace("waiting for [{}] notifications with version [{}]", responseCount, version);
                         aliasOperationPerformedAction.add(new CountDownListener(responseCount, listener, version), request.timeout);
 
                         return updatedState;