Bypassing a load balancer that initially appeared in a multi-message flow from a source machine served by a source intermediary and a target machine served on a target intermediary. One or more original network messages (and perhaps just the first) of the flow arrive from the source intermediary at the load balancer, which selects which machine is to be a destination machine, and it turns out selects the destination machine serviced by the destination intermediary. In response to receiving this message, the destination intermediary instructs the source intermediary to transmit subsequent messages in the flow in a manner that bypasses the load balancer. To facilitate this, the source intermediary may modify addressing of subsequent flow messages from the source machine such that they are rerouted to the destination machine without addressing the load balancer.