diff --git a/ec2/spark_ec2.py b/ec2/spark_ec2.py
index db393748a33bf..0f6d5a1fa81e5 100755
--- a/ec2/spark_ec2.py
+++ b/ec2/spark_ec2.py
@@ -814,6 +814,7 @@ def main():
     real_main()
   except UsageError, e:
     print >> stderr, "\nError:\n", e
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":