diff --git a/java/flight/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/flight/FlightClient.java b/java/flight/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/flight/FlightClient.java
index 7fcfd52008f98..bd126b5ea203c 100644
--- a/java/flight/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/flight/FlightClient.java
+++ b/java/flight/src/main/java/org/apache/arrow/flight/FlightClient.java
@@ -127,7 +127,9 @@ public ClientStreamListener startPut(FlightDescriptor descriptor, VectorSchemaRo
     // send the schema to start.
     ArrowMessage message = new ArrowMessage(descriptor.toProtocol(), root.getSchema());
     observer.onNext(message);
-    return new PutObserver(new VectorUnloader(root, true, true), observer, resultObserver.getFuture());
+    return new PutObserver(new VectorUnloader(
+        root, true /* include # of nulls in vectors */, true /* must align buffers to be C++-compatible */),
+        observer, resultObserver.getFuture());
   }
 
   public FlightInfo getInfo(FlightDescriptor descriptor) {