diff --git a/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala b/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
index 6d9a38ab7..c25524a6c 100644
--- a/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
+++ b/flint-spark-integration/src/main/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSpark.scala
@@ -204,13 +204,13 @@ class FlintSpark(val spark: SparkSession) extends FlintSparkTransactionSupport w
    */
   def updateIndex(index: FlintSparkIndex): Option[String] = {
     val indexName = index.name()
-    withTransaction[Option[String]](indexName, s"Update Flint index $indexName") { tx =>
-      validateUpdateAllowed(
-        describeIndex(indexName)
-          .getOrElse(throw new IllegalStateException(s"Index $indexName doesn't exist"))
-          .options,
-        index.options)
+    validateUpdateAllowed(
+      describeIndex(indexName)
+        .getOrElse(throw new IllegalStateException(s"Index $indexName doesn't exist"))
+        .options,
+      index.options)
 
+    withTransaction[Option[String]](indexName, s"Update Flint index $indexName") { tx =>
       // Relies on validation to forbid auto-to-auto and manual-to-manual updates
       index.options.autoRefresh() match {
         case true => updateIndexManualToAuto(index, tx)
diff --git a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkTransactionITSuite.scala b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkTransactionITSuite.scala
index b2d489c81..3bef0a45f 100644
--- a/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkTransactionITSuite.scala
+++ b/integ-test/src/test/scala/org/opensearch/flint/spark/FlintSparkTransactionITSuite.scala
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ class FlintSparkTransactionITSuite extends OpenSearchTransactionSuite with Match
         .onTable(testTable)
         .addValueSet("name")
         .create()
-    } should have message s"Flint index $testFlintIndex already exists"
+    } should have message
+      s"Failed to execute index operation [Create Flint index $testFlintIndex with ignoreIfExists false] caused by: Flint index $testFlintIndex already exists"
   }
 
   test("should clean up metadata log entry if index data has been deleted") {