diff --git a/src/codex/routing.ts b/src/codex/routing.ts
index deb7a13f19..12c3e5e951 100644
--- a/src/codex/routing.ts
+++ b/src/codex/routing.ts
@@ -1074,12 +1074,20 @@ export function isCodexAccountInCooldown(accountId: string, now = Date.now()): b
  *   bumps it in {@link recordCodexUpstreamOutcome}, so the bump here is not load-bearing
  *   today and is kept so the invariant survives a future change that retains the lease.
  *
- * Returns false when the account carried no live cooldown (already expired or never set).
+ * Returns false when the account carried neither a live cooldown nor a live avoidance window.
+ * The window outlives the cooldown by design — the cooldown caps at fifteen minutes and the
+ * window runs up to six hours — so the moment an operator actually reaches for this escape
+ * hatch is usually after the cooldown lapsed and only the window is still keeping the account
+ * out of rotation. Refusing to look at the window then would leave the hatch shut in the one
+ * case it exists for.
  */
 export function clearCodexAccountCooldown(accountId: string, now = Date.now()): boolean {
   const clear = (health: CodexUpstreamHealth): CodexUpstreamHealth | null => {
     const cooldownUntil = health.cooldownUntil;
-    if (typeof cooldownUntil !== "number" || !Number.isFinite(cooldownUntil) || cooldownUntil <= now) return null;
+    const liveCooldown = typeof cooldownUntil === "number" && Number.isFinite(cooldownUntil) && cooldownUntil > now;
+    const avoidUntil = health.quotaAvoidUntil;
+    const liveAvoidance = typeof avoidUntil === "number" && Number.isFinite(avoidUntil) && avoidUntil > now;
+    if (!liveCooldown && !liveAvoidance) return null;
     const {
       cooldownUntil: _until,
       cooldownSince: _since,
diff --git a/tests/codex-integration/codex-routing.test.ts b/tests/codex-integration/codex-routing.test.ts
index 92375ef2fc..72919b8dff 100644
--- a/tests/codex-integration/codex-routing.test.ts
+++ b/tests/codex-integration/codex-routing.test.ts
@@ -1046,6 +1046,28 @@ describe("codex routing", () => {
     expect(resolveCodexAccountForThread("cleared-after", config, now + 61_000, "spark")).toBe("a");
   });
 
+  test("clearing a lapsed cooldown still lifts the avoidance it left behind", () => {
+    const config = makeConfig();
+    const now = 1_800_000_000_000;
+    updateAccountQuota("a", 10);
+    updateAccountQuota("b", 20);
+    recordCodexUpstreamOutcome(config, "a", 429, {
+      now,
+      modelId: "gpt-5.3-codex-spark",
+      resetAt: Math.floor((now + 4 * 60 * 60_000) / 1_000),
+    });
+
+    // The capped cooldown is already gone and only the announced window is still holding the
+    // account out, which is exactly when an operator reaches for this button. Reading the
+    // cooldown alone made the call a no-op for the next several hours.
+    expect(isCodexAccountInCooldown("a", now + 16 * 60_000)).toBe(false);
+    expect(resolveCodexAccountForThread("lapsed-before", config, now + 16 * 60_000, "spark")).toBe("b");
+
+    expect(clearCodexAccountCooldown("a", now + 16 * 60_000)).toBe(true);
+
+    expect(resolveCodexAccountForThread("lapsed-after", config, now + 17 * 60_000, "spark")).toBe("a");
+  });
+
   test("a request the account serves releases the threads its quota refusal moved", () => {
     const config = makeConfig();
     const now = 1_800_000_000_000;