diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/test_definitions.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/test_definitions.cc
index ca6885428c0a0..026999f975a3f 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/test_definitions.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/test_definitions.cc
@@ -1903,19 +1903,15 @@ void AsyncClientTest::TestListenerLifetime() {
     arrow::Future<FlightInfo> future_;
   };
 
-  // Bad client code: don't retain a reference to the listener or even the client
+  // Bad client code: don't retain a reference to the listener
   {
-    ASSERT_OK_AND_ASSIGN(auto location,
-                         Location::ForGrpcTcp("localhost", server_->port()));
-    ASSERT_OK_AND_ASSIGN(auto client, FlightClient::Connect(location));
-
     auto descr = FlightDescriptor::Command("my_command");
     auto listener = std::make_shared<Listener>();
     listener->future_ = future;
-    client->GetFlightInfoAsync(descr, std::move(listener));
+    client_->GetFlightInfoAsync(descr, std::move(listener));
   }
 
-  ASSERT_OK(future.status());
+  ASSERT_FINISHES_OK(future);
 }
 
 }  // namespace flight
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/transport/grpc/grpc_client.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/transport/grpc/grpc_client.cc
index 08a79329b3f96..a7b6a358a6b85 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/transport/grpc/grpc_client.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/transport/grpc/grpc_client.cc
@@ -599,11 +599,12 @@ class GrpcGarbageBin {
 
   void Dispose(std::unique_ptr<internal::AsyncRpc> trash) {
     std::unique_lock<std::mutex> guard(grpc_destructor_mutex_);
+    if (!running_) return;
     garbage_bin_.push_back(std::move(trash));
     grpc_destructor_cv_.notify_all();
   }
 
-  ~GrpcGarbageBin() {
+  void Stop() {
     {
       std::unique_lock<std::mutex> guard(grpc_destructor_mutex_);
       running_ = false;
@@ -837,7 +838,11 @@ class GrpcClientImpl : public internal::ClientTransport {
 
   Status Close() override {
 #ifdef GRPC_ENABLE_ASYNC
-    garbage_bin_.reset();
+    // XXX: if there are async RPCs running when the client is
+    // stopped, then when they go to use the garbage bin, they'll
+    // instead synchronously dispose of resources from the callback
+    // thread, and will likely crash.
+    garbage_bin_->Stop();
 #endif
     // TODO(ARROW-15473): if we track ongoing RPCs, we can cancel them first
     // gRPC does not offer a real Close(). We could reset() the gRPC