diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a9729f821b6..9cfca29a9f5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 * Fix #4985: triggering the immediate cleanup of the okhttp idle task
 * fix #5002: Jetty response completion accounts for header processing
 * Fix #5009: addressing issue with serialization of wrapped polymophic types
+* Fix #5033: port forwarding for clients other than okhttp needs to specify the subprotocol
 
 #### Improvements
 * Fix #4434: Update CronJobIT to use `batch/v1` CronJob instead
diff --git a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocket.java b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocket.java
index 72740c98e2b..337a896eb1c 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocket.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocket.java
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ public PortForward forward(URL resourceBaseUrl, int port, final ReadableByteChan
     CompletableFuture<WebSocket> socket = client
         .newWebSocketBuilder()
         .uri(URI.create(URLUtils.join(resourceBaseUrl.toString(), "portforward?ports=" + port)))
+        .subprotocol("v4.channel.k8s.io")
         .buildAsync(listener);
 
     socket.whenComplete((w, t) -> {
diff --git a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocketListener.java b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocketListener.java
index 770a5bd82f5..60ebcf798ab 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocketListener.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/PortForwarderWebsocketListener.java
@@ -117,9 +117,8 @@ public void onMessage(WebSocket webSocket, ByteBuffer buffer) {
       closeBothWays(webSocket, 1002, PROTOCOL_ERROR);
     } else if (channel == 1) {
       // Error channel
-      // TODO: read the error
       KubernetesClientException e = new KubernetesClientException(
-          String.format("Received an error from the remote socket"));
+          String.format("Received an error from the remote socket %s", ExecWebSocketListener.toString(buffer)));
       serverThrowables.add(e);
       logger.debug("Server error", e);
       closeForwarder();
diff --git a/kubernetes-itests/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/PodIT.java b/kubernetes-itests/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/PodIT.java
index 8e33d9e5a66..6e49ca76c47 100644
--- a/kubernetes-itests/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/PodIT.java
+++ b/kubernetes-itests/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/PodIT.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.PodList;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Status;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.LocalPortForward;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.ExecListener;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.ExecWatch;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.LogWatch;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.utils.IOHelpers;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.utils.InputStreamPumper;
 import org.awaitility.Awaitility;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
@@ -44,6 +46,10 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.net.SocketException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.channels.SocketChannel;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -444,4 +450,40 @@ void listFromServer() {
     assertEquals(pod1.getMetadata().getName(), fromServerPod.getMetadata().getName());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void portForward() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+    client.pods().withName("nginx").waitUntilReady(POD_READY_WAIT_IN_MILLIS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    LocalPortForward portForward = client.pods().withName("nginx").portForward(80);
+    boolean failed = false;
+    try (SocketChannel channel = SocketChannel.open()) {
+
+      int localPort = portForward.getLocalPort();
+
+      URL url = new URL("http://localhost:" + localPort);
+
+      HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
+
+      InputStream content = (InputStream) conn.getContent();
+
+      // make sure we got data, should be the welcome page
+      assertTrue(content.read() != -1);
+
+      content.close();
+    } catch (SocketException e) {
+      failed = true;
+    } finally {
+      portForward.close();
+    }
+
+    if (failed) {
+      // not all kube versions nor runtimes can to port forwarding - the nodes need socat installed
+      portForward.getServerThrowables().stream()
+          .filter(t -> !t.getMessage().contains("unable to do port forwarding: socat not found")).findFirst()
+          .ifPresent(Assertions::fail);
+    } else {
+      assertThat(portForward.getServerThrowables()).isEmpty();
+    }
+    assertThat(portForward.getClientThrowables()).isEmpty();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/kubernetes-itests/src/test/resources/pod-it.yml b/kubernetes-itests/src/test/resources/pod-it.yml
index 4002b576054..1ba2d264c45 100644
--- a/kubernetes-itests/src/test/resources/pod-it.yml
+++ b/kubernetes-itests/src/test/resources/pod-it.yml
@@ -56,3 +56,14 @@ spec:
       command: ["timeout", "-s", "SIGKILL", "36000", "sh", "-i"]
       stdin: true
       tty: true
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: nginx
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - name: nginx
+    image: nginx:1.14.2
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80