diff --git a/qa/full-cluster-restart/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/upgrades/FullClusterRestartSettingsUpgradeIT.java b/qa/full-cluster-restart/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/upgrades/FullClusterRestartSettingsUpgradeIT.java
index 19fbdc92fae07..fb14b89fc621b 100644
--- a/qa/full-cluster-restart/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/upgrades/FullClusterRestartSettingsUpgradeIT.java
+++ b/qa/full-cluster-restart/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/upgrades/FullClusterRestartSettingsUpgradeIT.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 public class FullClusterRestartSettingsUpgradeIT extends AbstractFullClusterRestartTestCase {
 
     public void testRemoteClusterSettingsUpgraded() throws IOException {
+        assumeTrue("skip_unavailable did not exist until 6.1.0", getOldClusterVersion().onOrAfter(Version.V_6_1_0));
         assumeTrue("settings automatically upgraded since 6.5.0", getOldClusterVersion().before(Version.V_6_5_0));
         if (isRunningAgainstOldCluster()) {
             final Request putSettingsRequest = new Request("PUT", "/_cluster/settings");