diff --git a/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go b/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
index b5ff71b9ce188..305d47b17e571 100644
--- a/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
+++ b/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ func (s *Scheduler) enqueueRequest(frontendContext context.Context, frontendAddr
 	// information, since that is a long-running request.
 	tracer := opentracing.GlobalTracer()
 	parentSpanContext, err := lokigrpc.GetParentSpanForRequest(tracer, msg)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && err != opentracing.ErrSpanContextNotFound {
 		return err
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/util/httpgrpc/carrier.go b/pkg/util/httpgrpc/carrier.go
index b52b51ae352b2..ab1753ef6c271 100644
--- a/pkg/util/httpgrpc/carrier.go
+++ b/pkg/util/httpgrpc/carrier.go
@@ -39,11 +39,7 @@ func GetParentSpanForHTTPRequest(tracer opentracing.Tracer, req *weaveworks_http
 	}
 
 	carrier := (*HeadersCarrier)(req)
-	extracted, err := tracer.Extract(opentracing.HTTPHeaders, carrier)
-	if err == opentracing.ErrSpanContextNotFound {
-		err = nil
-	}
-	return extracted, err
+	return tracer.Extract(opentracing.HTTPHeaders, carrier)
 }
 
 func GetParentSpanForQueryRequest(tracer opentracing.Tracer, req *queryrange.QueryRequest) (opentracing.SpanContext, error) {
@@ -52,11 +48,7 @@ func GetParentSpanForQueryRequest(tracer opentracing.Tracer, req *queryrange.Que
 	}
 
 	carrier := opentracing.TextMapCarrier(req.Metadata)
-	extracted, err := tracer.Extract(opentracing.TextMap, carrier)
-	if err == opentracing.ErrSpanContextNotFound {
-		err = nil
-	}
-	return extracted, err
+	return tracer.Extract(opentracing.TextMap, carrier)
 }
 
 func GetParentSpanForRequest(tracer opentracing.Tracer, req Request) (opentracing.SpanContext, error) {