diff --git a/ci/docker_integration_tests.sh b/ci/docker_integration_tests.sh
index 0eb78569a..6264f94d5 100755
--- a/ci/docker_integration_tests.sh
+++ b/ci/docker_integration_tests.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+# we may pass "persistent_queues" to FEATURE_FLAG to enable PQ in the integration tests
+export DOCKER_ENV_OPTS="${DOCKER_ENV_OPTS} -e FEATURE_FLAG"
 ci/docker_run.sh logstash-integration-tests ci/integration_tests.sh $@