diff --git a/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/retry-link.ts b/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/retry-link.ts
index a08bfeb8..159b7e26 100644
--- a/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/retry-link.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/retry-link.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const MAX_DELAY_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000;
 const getDelay = count => ((2 ** count) * BASE_TIME_MS) + (JITTER_FACTOR * Math.random());
 
 export const SKIP_RETRY_KEY = '@@skipRetry';
+export const PERMANENT_ERROR_KEY = typeof Symbol !== 'undefined' ? Symbol('permanentError') : '@@permanentError';
 
 export const getEffectDelay = (_action: OfflineAction, retries: number) => {
     const delay = getDelay(retries);
@@ -30,8 +31,13 @@ export const createRetryLink = (origLink: ApolloLink) => {
 
     const retryLink = new RetryLink({
         attempts: (count, operation, error) => {
+            const { [PERMANENT_ERROR_KEY]: permanent = false } = error;
             const { [SKIP_RETRY_KEY]: skipRetry = false } = operation.variables;
 
+            if (permanent) {
+                return false;
+            }
+
             if (error.statusCode >= 400 && error.statusCode < 500) {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/subscription-handshake-link.ts b/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/subscription-handshake-link.ts
index b64e6529..64e04ff3 100644
--- a/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/subscription-handshake-link.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-appsync/src/link/subscription-handshake-link.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import * as Paho from '../vendor/paho-mqtt';
 import { ApolloError } from "apollo-client";
 import { FieldNode } from "graphql";
 import { getMainDefinition } from "apollo-utilities";
+import { PERMANENT_ERROR_KEY } from "./retry-link";
 
 const logger = rootLogger.extend('subscriptions');
 const mqttLogger = logger.extend('mqtt');
@@ -66,11 +67,11 @@ export class SubscriptionHandshakeLink extends ApolloLink {
             } = { subscription: { newSubscriptions: {}, mqttConnections: [] } },
             errors = [],
         }: {
-                extensions?: {
-                    subscription: SubscriptionExtension
-                },
-                errors: any[]
-            } = subsInfo;
+            extensions?: {
+                subscription: SubscriptionExtension
+            },
+            errors: any[]
+        } = subsInfo;
 
         if (errors && errors.length) {
             return new Observable(observer => {
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ export class SubscriptionHandshakeLink extends ApolloLink {
             if (errorCode !== 0) {
                 topics.forEach(t => {
                     if (this.topicObservers.has(t)) {
-                        this.topicObservers.get(t).forEach(observer => observer.error(args));
+                        this.topicObservers.get(t).forEach(observer => observer.error({ ...args, [PERMANENT_ERROR_KEY]: true }));
                     }
                 });
             }