diff --git a/cli/odc-cli b/cli/odc-cli
index 30365eb1e..d7fe9758f 100755
--- a/cli/odc-cli
+++ b/cli/odc-cli
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from argparse import (
     RawTextHelpFormatter,
 )
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from http import HTTPStatus
 from typing import Any, Callable
 from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
 from urllib.parse import parse_qsl, urlencode, urlparse, urlunparse, quote
@@ -214,7 +215,15 @@ class HttpResponse:
                 props['data'] = self.data
             props['statusCode'] = self.status or 'N/A'
         elif not self.ok:
-            props.update(**self.data)
+            # Every failure carries its status; an API body with its own statusCode still wins.
+            props['statusCode'] = self.status or 'N/A'
+            if isinstance(self.data, dict):
+                props.update(self.data)
+            else:
+                try:
+                    props['error'] = HTTPStatus(self.status).phrase
+                except (TypeError, ValueError):
+                    pass
         return to_json(props)
 
     @property