diff --git a/openmetadata-integration-tests/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/it/tests/AppsResourceIT.java b/openmetadata-integration-tests/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/it/tests/AppsResourceIT.java
index d31ab9e95ae2..6bf2a452196b 100644
--- a/openmetadata-integration-tests/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/it/tests/AppsResourceIT.java
+++ b/openmetadata-integration-tests/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/it/tests/AppsResourceIT.java
@@ -81,8 +81,15 @@ static void setup() {
   private void waitForAppJobCompletion(String appName) {
     HttpClient httpClient = SdkClients.adminClient().getHttpClient();
     try {
+      // AppRunRecord.status is a lowercase enum (see appRunRecord.json: started, running,
+      // completed, failed, success, activeError, stopped, ...). Comparing with case-insensitive
+      // matchers — using uppercase here matches none of the real values and silently makes the
+      // wait a no-op. 5-minute ceiling covers an in-flight reindex from another test class
+      // (e.g. SearchIndexingFieldsParityIT triggers an "all entities" reindex that can take
+      // minutes); a 30s ceiling fell through to the catch and let the trigger Awaitility below
+      // hit its own 2-minute "already running" wall.
       Awaitility.await("Wait for app job completion: " + appName)
-          .atMost(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
+          .atMost(Duration.ofMinutes(5))
           .pollDelay(Duration.ofMillis(500))
           .pollInterval(Duration.ofSeconds(2))
           .ignoreExceptions()
@@ -98,9 +105,7 @@ private void waitForAppJobCompletion(String appName) {
                   return true;
                 }
                 String status = latestRun.getStatus().value();
-                return "SUCCESS".equals(status)
-                    || "FAILED".equals(status)
-                    || "COMPLETED".equals(status);
+                return !"running".equalsIgnoreCase(status) && !"started".equalsIgnoreCase(status);
               });
     } catch (org.awaitility.core.ConditionTimeoutException e) {
       // Best-effort wait — the app may be continuously running under parallel test load.
diff --git a/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandler.java b/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandler.java
index daba88d33742..20cc570a83fe 100644
--- a/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandler.java
+++ b/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandler.java
@@ -171,6 +171,18 @@ public void finalizeReindex(EntityReindexContext context, boolean reindexSuccess
           }
         }
 
+        // After the first reindex, the canonical name is an alias on the previous staged, not a
+        // concrete index. OpenSearch's listIndicesByPrefix returns that alias name as one of its
+        // result keys, which then drives a delete-by-name attempt that fails with
+        // "matches an alias, specify the corresponding concrete indices" and burns ~31s of
+        // exponential backoff per entity (1+2+4+8+16s before giving up). With 60 entity types
+        // a full reindex wastes ~30 minutes in cleanup. Drop the alias name from the cleanup set
+        // when it is currently an alias — it does not need to be deleted; the swap moves the
+        // alias atomically and the underlying old concrete is in oldIndicesToDelete already.
+        if (!searchClient.getIndicesByAlias(canonicalIndex).isEmpty()) {
+          oldIndicesToDelete.remove(canonicalIndex);
+        }
+
         LOG.debug(
             "finalizeReindex entity '{}': aliases={}, oldIndices={}, stagedIndex={}",
             entityType,
diff --git a/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandlerTest.java b/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandlerTest.java
index 935e1fc57ec4..646a0e837fe3 100644
--- a/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandlerTest.java
+++ b/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/DefaultRecreateHandlerTest.java
@@ -535,7 +535,9 @@ class FinalizeReindexTests {
     @DisplayName("Should promote partial data and record success when failed reindex has documents")
     void testFinalizeReindexPromotesPartialData() {
       AliasState aliasState = new AliasState();
-      aliasState.put("table_search_index", Set.of("table_search_index"));
+      // Canonical is a concrete index with no aliases (the realistic first-reindex shape; OS/ES
+      // forbid an alias and a concrete sharing the same name).
+      aliasState.put("table_search_index", Set.of());
       aliasState.put("table_search_index_rebuild_old", Set.of("stale"));
       aliasState.put("table_search_index_rebuild_new", new HashSet<>());
 
@@ -667,6 +669,62 @@ void testFinalizeReindexRecordsPromotionFailureOnException() {
 
       verify(metrics).recordPromotionFailure("table");
     }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName(
+        "Should not delete-by-alias-name when canonical is currently an alias on a previous staged")
+    void testFinalizeReindexSkipsDeleteWhenCanonicalIsAlias() {
+      // After the first reindex, the canonical name (table_search_index) is an alias on the
+      // previous staged index, not a concrete one. OpenSearch's listIndicesByPrefix returns the
+      // alias name as one of its result keys; without the guard, finalizeReindex would attempt
+      // deleteIndexWithBackoff(canonicalIndex), fail with "matches an alias" and burn ~31s of
+      // exponential backoff per entity. The guard must drop the alias name from oldIndicesToDelete
+      // BEFORE the delete branch fires.
+      AliasState aliasState = new AliasState();
+      aliasState.put(
+          "table_search_index_rebuild_old",
+          new HashSet<>(Set.of("table_search_index", "table", "all")));
+      aliasState.put("table_search_index_rebuild_new", new HashSet<>());
+      // Simulate the OpenSearch behavior where listIndicesByPrefix surfaces the alias name itself
+      // among its result keys (the key in our AliasState mock is what listIndicesByPrefix returns).
+      aliasState.put("table_search_index", Set.of());
+
+      SearchClient client = aliasState.toMock();
+      SearchRepository repo = mock(SearchRepository.class);
+      when(repo.getSearchClient()).thenReturn(client);
+
+      try (MockedStatic<Entity> entityMock = mockStatic(Entity.class)) {
+        entityMock.when(Entity::getSearchRepository).thenReturn(repo);
+
+        EntityReindexContext context =
+            EntityReindexContext.builder()
+                .entityType("table")
+                .canonicalIndex("table_search_index")
+                .activeIndex("table_search_index_rebuild_old")
+                .stagedIndex("table_search_index_rebuild_new")
+                .existingAliases(new HashSet<>(Set.of("table_search_index", "table", "all")))
+                .canonicalAliases("table")
+                .parentAliases(new HashSet<>(Set.of("all")))
+                .build();
+
+        new DefaultRecreateHandler().finalizeReindex(context, true);
+      }
+
+      verify(client, never()).deleteIndexWithBackoff("table_search_index");
+      assertTrue(
+          aliasState.deletedIndices.contains("table_search_index_rebuild_old"),
+          "Old concrete rebuild must still be cleaned up by the swap path");
+      Set<String> stagedAliases = aliasState.indexAliases.get("table_search_index_rebuild_new");
+      assertTrue(
+          stagedAliases.contains("table_search_index"),
+          () -> "Canonical alias must end up on staged after promotion; got " + stagedAliases);
+      assertTrue(
+          stagedAliases.contains("table"),
+          () -> "Short alias must end up on staged after promotion; got " + stagedAliases);
+      assertTrue(
+          stagedAliases.contains("all"),
+          () -> "Parent alias must end up on staged after promotion; got " + stagedAliases);
+    }
   }
 
   @Nested