diff --git a/api/client/commands.go b/api/client/commands.go
index 2c44bb63c5..29c72667cc 100644
--- a/api/client/commands.go
+++ b/api/client/commands.go
@@ -619,13 +619,13 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdStart(args ...string) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("You cannot start and attach multiple containers at once.")
 		}
 
-		steam, _, err := cli.call("GET", "/containers/"+cmd.Arg(0)+"/json", nil, false)
+		stream, _, err := cli.call("GET", "/containers/"+cmd.Arg(0)+"/json", nil, false)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
 		env := engine.Env{}
-		if err := env.Decode(steam); err != nil {
+		if err := env.Decode(stream); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		config := env.GetSubEnv("Config")
@@ -681,7 +681,16 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdStart(args ...string) error {
 				log.Errorf("Error monitoring TTY size: %s", err)
 			}
 		}
-		return <-cErr
+		if attchErr := <-cErr; attchErr != nil {
+			return attchErr
+		}
+		_, status, err := getExitCode(cli, cmd.Arg(0))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if status != 0 {
+			return &utils.StatusError{StatusCode: status}
+		}
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/integration-cli/docker_cli_start_test.go b/integration-cli/docker_cli_start_test.go
index 18ad96aef1..af0a785185 100644
--- a/integration-cli/docker_cli_start_test.go
+++ b/integration-cli/docker_cli_start_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -36,3 +38,33 @@ func TestStartAttachReturnsOnError(t *testing.T) {
 
 	logDone("start - error on start with attach exits")
 }
+
+// gh#8555: Exit code should be passed through when using start -a
+func TestStartAttachCorrectExitCode(t *testing.T) {
+	defer deleteAllContainers()
+
+	runCmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "run", "-d", "busybox", "sh", "-c", "sleep 2; exit 1")
+	out, _, _, err := runCommandWithStdoutStderr(runCmd)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to run container: %v, output: %q", err, out)
+	}
+
+	out = stripTrailingCharacters(out)
+
+	// make sure the container has exited before trying the "start -a"
+	waitCmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "wait", out)
+	if out, _, err = runCommandWithOutput(waitCmd); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(out, err)
+	}
+
+	startCmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "start", "-a", out)
+	startOut, exitCode, err := runCommandWithOutput(startCmd)
+	if err != nil && !strings.Contains("exit status 1", fmt.Sprintf("%s", err)) {
+		t.Fatalf("start command failed unexpectedly with error: %v, output: %q", err, startOut)
+	}
+	if exitCode != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("start -a did not respond with proper exit code: expected 1, got %d", exitCode)
+	}
+
+	logDone("start - correct exit code returned with -a")
+}