diff --git a/arangod/VocBase/transaction.cpp b/arangod/VocBase/transaction.cpp
index 39b12cd427..8ec81ff89d 100644
--- a/arangod/VocBase/transaction.cpp
+++ b/arangod/VocBase/transaction.cpp
@@ -1151,20 +1151,25 @@ int TRI_AddOperationTransaction(TRI_transaction_t* trx,
         trx, document->_info.id(), TRI_TRANSACTION_WRITE);
     if (trxCollection->_operations == nullptr) {
       trxCollection->_operations = new std::vector<arangodb::wal::DocumentOperation*>;
-      trxCollection->_operations->reserve(4);
+      trxCollection->_operations->reserve(16);
       trx->_hasOperations = true;
     } else {
-      // reserve space for one more element
-      trxCollection->_operations->reserve(trxCollection->_operations->size() + 1);
+      // reserve space for one more element so the push_back below does not fail
+      size_t oldSize = trxCollection->_operations->size();
+      if (oldSize + 1 >= trxCollection->_operations->capacity()) {
+        // double the size
+        trxCollection->_operations->reserve((oldSize + 1) * 2);
+      }
+    }
+    
+    TRI_IF_FAILURE("TransactionOperationPushBack") {
+      // test what happens if reserve above failed
+      THROW_ARANGO_EXCEPTION(TRI_ERROR_DEBUG); 
     }
 
     arangodb::wal::DocumentOperation* copy = operation.swap();
     
-    TRI_IF_FAILURE("TransactionOperationPushBack") {
-      // test what happens if push_back fails 
-      THROW_ARANGO_EXCEPTION(TRI_ERROR_DEBUG); 
-    }
-    
+    // should not fail because we reserved enough room above 
     trxCollection->_operations->push_back(copy);
     copy->handle();
   }
diff --git a/js/server/tests/shell/shell-transactions-noncluster.js b/js/server/tests/shell/shell-transactions-noncluster.js
index 97bdfda0ab..d229f466ae 100644
--- a/js/server/tests/shell/shell-transactions-noncluster.js
+++ b/js/server/tests/shell/shell-transactions-noncluster.js
@@ -4153,7 +4153,6 @@ function transactionServerFailuresSuite () {
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlot",
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlotExcept",
                        "TransactionOperationAfterAdjust",
-                       "TransactionOperationPushBack",
                        "TransactionOperationAtEnd" ]; 
 
       failures.forEach (function (f) {
@@ -4189,7 +4188,6 @@ function transactionServerFailuresSuite () {
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlot",
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlotExcept",
                        "TransactionOperationAfterAdjust",
-                       "TransactionOperationPushBack",
                        "TransactionOperationAtEnd" ]; 
 
       failures.forEach (function (f) {
@@ -4332,7 +4330,6 @@ function transactionServerFailuresSuite () {
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlot",
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlotExcept",
                        "TransactionOperationAfterAdjust",
-                       "TransactionOperationPushBack",
                        "TransactionOperationAtEnd" ];
 
       failures.forEach (function (f) {
@@ -4423,7 +4420,6 @@ function transactionServerFailuresSuite () {
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlot",
                        "TransactionOperationNoSlotExcept",
                        "TransactionOperationAfterAdjust",
-                       "TransactionOperationPushBack",
                        "TransactionOperationAtEnd" ];
 
       failures.forEach (function (f) {