diff --git a/datafusion_util/src/config.rs b/datafusion_util/src/config.rs
index 1c1a975a4f..7caa94225c 100644
--- a/datafusion_util/src/config.rs
+++ b/datafusion_util/src/config.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,14 @@ pub fn iox_session_config() -> SessionConfig {
     options.execution.parquet.reorder_filters = true;
     options.optimizer.repartition_sorts = true;
 
+    // DataFusion skips failed optimizer rules by default. Relevant issues:
+    // - https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/issues/4615
+    // - https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/issues/4685
+    //
+    // However IOx should not skip them, since that will result in more helpful error messages
+    // when they fail, e.g., 'HandleGapFill`.
+    options.optimizer.skip_failed_rules = false;
+
     SessionConfig::from(options)
         .with_batch_size(BATCH_SIZE)
         .with_create_default_catalog_and_schema(true)