diff --git a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
index 8a1927a39c..d39ebb6664 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ### SDK Features
 
 ### SDK Enhancements
+`aws/client`: Adding status code 429 to throttlable status codes in default retryer (#1621)
 
 ### SDK Bugs
diff --git a/aws/client/default_retryer.go b/aws/client/default_retryer.go
index e25a460fba..c31cb395b0 100644
--- a/aws/client/default_retryer.go
+++ b/aws/client/default_retryer.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package client
 
 import (
 	"math/rand"
+	"strconv"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ func (d DefaultRetryer) RetryRules(r *request.Request) time.Duration {
 	minTime := 30
 	throttle := d.shouldThrottle(r)
 	if throttle {
+		if delay, ok := getRetryDelay(r); ok {
+			return delay
+		}
+
 		minTime = 500
 	}
 
@@ -68,12 +73,49 @@ func (d DefaultRetryer) ShouldRetry(r *request.Request) bool {
 
 // ShouldThrottle returns true if the request should be throttled.
 func (d DefaultRetryer) shouldThrottle(r *request.Request) bool {
-	if r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode == 502 ||
-		r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode == 503 ||
-		r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode == 504 {
-		return true
+	switch r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode {
+	case 429:
+	case 502:
+	case 503:
+	case 504:
+	default:
+		return r.IsErrorThrottle()
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+// This will look in the Retry-After header, RFC 7231, for how long
+// it will wait before attempting another request
+func getRetryDelay(r *request.Request) (time.Duration, bool) {
+	if !canUseRetryAfterHeader(r) {
+		return 0, false
+	}
+
+	delayStr := r.HTTPResponse.Header.Get("Retry-After")
+	if len(delayStr) == 0 {
+		return 0, false
 	}
-	return r.IsErrorThrottle()
+
+	delay, err := strconv.Atoi(delayStr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, false
+	}
+
+	return time.Duration(delay) * time.Second, true
+}
+
+// Will look at the status code to see if the retry header pertains to
+// the status code.
+func canUseRetryAfterHeader(r *request.Request) bool {
+	switch r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode {
+	case 429:
+	case 503:
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return true
 }
 
 // lockedSource is a thread-safe implementation of rand.Source
diff --git a/aws/client/default_retryer_test.go b/aws/client/default_retryer_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4868088673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aws/client/default_retryer_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+package client
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/request"
+)
+
+func TestRetryThrottleStatusCodes(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		expectThrottle bool
+		expectRetry    bool
+		r              request.Request
+	}{
+		{
+			false,
+			false,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 200},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			true,
+			true,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 429},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			true,
+			true,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 502},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			true,
+			true,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 503},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			true,
+			true,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 504},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			false,
+			true,
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 500},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	d := DefaultRetryer{NumMaxRetries: 10}
+	for i, c := range cases {
+		throttle := d.shouldThrottle(&c.r)
+		retry := d.ShouldRetry(&c.r)
+
+		if e, a := c.expectThrottle, throttle; e != a {
+			t.Errorf("%d: expected %v, but received %v", i, e, a)
+		}
+
+		if e, a := c.expectRetry, retry; e != a {
+			t.Errorf("%d: expected %v, but received %v", i, e, a)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCanUseRetryAfter(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		r request.Request
+		e bool
+	}{
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 200},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 500},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 429},
+			},
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 503},
+			},
+			true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, c := range cases {
+		a := canUseRetryAfterHeader(&c.r)
+		if c.e != a {
+			t.Errorf("%d: expected %v, but received %v", i, c.e, a)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetRetryDelay(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		r     request.Request
+		e     time.Duration
+		equal bool
+		ok    bool
+	}{
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 429, Header: http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{"3600"}}},
+			},
+			3600 * time.Second,
+			true,
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 503, Header: http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{"120"}}},
+			},
+			120 * time.Second,
+			true,
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 503, Header: http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{"120"}}},
+			},
+			1 * time.Second,
+			false,
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			request.Request{
+				HTTPResponse: &http.Response{StatusCode: 503, Header: http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{""}}},
+			},
+			0 * time.Second,
+			true,
+			false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, c := range cases {
+		a, ok := getRetryDelay(&c.r)
+		if c.ok != ok {
+			t.Errorf("%d: expected %v, but received %v", i, c.ok, ok)
+		}
+
+		if (c.e != a) == c.equal {
+			t.Errorf("%d: expected %v, but received %v", i, c.e, a)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/aws/request/request_test.go b/aws/request/request_test.go
index 4d9258c0a6..e406255ee7 100644
--- a/aws/request/request_test.go
+++ b/aws/request/request_test.go
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ func TestRequestRecoverRetry4xxRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 	reqNum := 0
 	reqs := []http.Response{
 		{StatusCode: 400, Body: body(`{"__type":"Throttling","message":"Rate exceeded."}`)},
-		{StatusCode: 429, Body: body(`{"__type":"ProvisionedThroughputExceededException","message":"Rate exceeded."}`)},
+		{StatusCode: 400, Body: body(`{"__type":"ProvisionedThroughputExceededException","message":"Rate exceeded."}`)},
+		{StatusCode: 429, Body: body(`{"__type":"FooException","message":"Rate exceeded."}`)},
 		{StatusCode: 200, Body: body(`{"data":"valid"}`)},
 	}
 
@@ -131,7 +132,7 @@ func TestRequestRecoverRetry4xxRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expect no error, but got %v", err)
 	}
-	if e, a := 2, int(r.RetryCount); e != a {
+	if e, a := 3, int(r.RetryCount); e != a {
 		t.Errorf("expect %d retry count, got %d", e, a)
 	}
 	if e, a := "valid", out.Data; e != a {