diff --git a/features/patroni_api.feature b/features/patroni_api.feature
index 78f014e2..6eedc26c 100644
--- a/features/patroni_api.feature
+++ b/features/patroni_api.feature
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ Scenario: check API requests on a stand-alone server
 	Then I receive a response code 503
 	And I receive a response text "I am the leader, can not reinitialize"
 	When I issue a POST request to http://127.0.0.1:8008/failover with leader=postgres0
-	Then I receive a response code 503
+	Then I receive a response code 500
 	And I receive a response text "failover is not possible: cluster does not have members except leader"
 	When I issue an empty POST request to http://127.0.0.1:8008/failover
-	Then I receive a response code 503
+	Then I receive a response code 500
 	And I receive a response text "No values given for required parameters leader and member"
 
 Scenario: check API requests for the primary-replica pair
@@ -34,8 +34,15 @@ Scenario: check API requests for the primary-replica pair
 	Then I receive a response code 200
 	And postgres0 is a leader after 5 seconds
 
-Scenario: check promotion via the API
+Scenario: check the failover via the API
 	Given I issue a POST request to http://127.0.0.1:8008/failover with leader=postgres0,candidate=postgres1
 	Then I receive a response code 200
 	And postgres1 is a leader after 5 seconds
 	And replication works from postgres1 to postgres0 after 15 seconds
+
+Scenario: check the scheduled failover
+	Given I issue a scheduled failover at http://127.0.0.1:8009 from postgres1 to postgresq0 in 10 seconds
+	Then I receive a response code 200
+	And postgres0 is a leader after 15 seconds
+	And replication works from postgres0 to postgres1 after 25 seconds
+
diff --git a/features/patroni_api.py b/features/patroni_api.py
index 37650d99..0659bc2c 100644
--- a/features/patroni_api.py
+++ b/features/patroni_api.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from lettuce import world, steps
 import time
+import pytz
 import requests
 
 
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ class PatroniAPISteps(object):
         self.do_post(step, url, None)
 
     def do_post(self, step, url, data):
-        '''I issue a POST request to (https?://(?:\w|\.|:|/)+) with ((?:\s*\w+\s*=\s*\w+\s*,?)+)'''
+        '''I issue a POST request to (https?://(?:\w|\.|:|/)+) with ((?:\w+=(?:\w|\.|:|-|\+|\s)+,?)+)'''
         post_data = {}
         if data:
             post_components = data.split(',')
@@ -72,7 +74,8 @@ class PatroniAPISteps(object):
     def check_response(self, step, component, data):
         '''I receive a response (\w+) (.*)'''
         if component == 'code':
-            assert self.status_code == int(data), "status code {0} != {1}".format(self.status_code, int(data))
+            assert self.status_code == int(data),\
+                    "status code {0} != {1}, response: {2}".format(self.status_code, int(data), self.response)
         elif component == 'text':
             assert self.response == data.strip('"'), "response {0} does not contain {1}".format(self.response, data)
         else:
@@ -86,5 +89,11 @@ class PatroniAPISteps(object):
             Then table test_{0} is present on {2} after {3} seconds
             """.format(int(time.time()), master, replica, time_limit))
 
+    def scheduld_failover(self, step, at_url, from_host, to_host, in_seconds):
+        '''I issue a scheduled failover at (https?://(?:\w|\.|:|/)+) from (\w+) to (\w+) in (\d+) seconds'''
+        step.behave_as("""
+            Given I issue a POST request to {0}/failover with leader={1},candidate={2},scheduled_at={3}
+            """.format(at_url, from_host, to_host, datetime.now(pytz.utc) + timedelta(seconds=int(in_seconds))))
+
 
 PatroniAPISteps(world)