diff --git a/kaldb/src/main/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParser.java b/kaldb/src/main/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParser.java
index d32ba7d6ed..1f815fc64e 100644
--- a/kaldb/src/main/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParser.java
+++ b/kaldb/src/main/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParser.java
@@ -46,23 +46,29 @@ public static Map<String, List<Trace.Span>> parseRequest(byte[] postBody) throws
    * logstash sets that) 3. Use the current time from the ingestMetadata
    */
   public static long getTimestampFromIngestDocument(IngestDocument ingestDocument) {
-    // assumption that the provided timestamp is in millis
-    // at some point both th unit and field need to be configurable
-    // when we do that, remember to change the called to appropriately remove the field
-    if (ingestDocument.hasField("timestamp")) {
-      return ingestDocument.getFieldValue("timestamp", Long.class);
-    }
 
-    if (ingestDocument.hasField("_timestamp")) {
-      return ingestDocument.getFieldValue("_timestamp", Long.class);
-    }
+    try {
+      if (ingestDocument.hasField("@timestamp")) {
+        String dateString = ingestDocument.getFieldValue("@timestamp", String.class);
+        LocalDateTime localDateTime =
+            LocalDateTime.parse(dateString, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME);
+        Instant instant = localDateTime.toInstant(ZoneOffset.UTC);
+        return instant.toEpochMilli();
+      }
 
-    if (ingestDocument.hasField("@timestamp")) {
-      String dateString = ingestDocument.getFieldValue("@timestamp", String.class);
-      LocalDateTime localDateTime =
-          LocalDateTime.parse(dateString, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME);
-      Instant instant = localDateTime.toInstant(ZoneOffset.UTC);
-      return instant.toEpochMilli();
+      // assumption that the provided timestamp is in millis
+      // at some point both th unit and field need to be configurable
+      // when we do that, remember to change the called to appropriately remove the field
+      if (ingestDocument.hasField("timestamp")) {
+        return ingestDocument.getFieldValue("timestamp", Long.class);
+      }
+
+      if (ingestDocument.hasField("_timestamp")) {
+        return ingestDocument.getFieldValue("_timestamp", Long.class);
+      }
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      LOG.warn(
+          "Unable to parse timestamp from ingest document. Using current time as timestamp", e);
     }
 
     return ((ZonedDateTime)
diff --git a/kaldb/src/test/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParserTest.java b/kaldb/src/test/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParserTest.java
index 86228bd08b..0fb0269bd2 100644
--- a/kaldb/src/test/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParserTest.java
+++ b/kaldb/src/test/java/com/slack/kaldb/bulkIngestApi/opensearch/BulkApiRequestParserTest.java
@@ -239,6 +239,16 @@ public void testTimestampParsingFromIngestDocument() {
     timeInMillis = BulkApiRequestParser.getTimestampFromIngestDocument(ingestDocument);
     assertThat(timeInMillis).isEqualTo(providedTimeStamp.toEpochMilli());
 
+    // we put a string in the timestamp field, which today we don't parse
+    // so it won't be 2024-01-01 but be the current timestamp
+    ingestDocument =
+        new IngestDocument(
+            "index", "1", "routing", 1L, VersionType.INTERNAL, Map.of("timestamp", ts));
+    timeInMillis = BulkApiRequestParser.getTimestampFromIngestDocument(ingestDocument);
+    ingestDocumentTime = Instant.ofEpochMilli(timeInMillis);
+    assertThat(oneMinuteBefore.isBefore(ingestDocumentTime)).isTrue();
+    assertThat(ingestDocumentTime.isBefore(oneMinuteAfter)).isTrue();
+
     ingestDocument =
         new IngestDocument(
             "index",