diff --git a/core/http/react-ui/src/pages/Middleware.jsx b/core/http/react-ui/src/pages/Middleware.jsx
index 34d55d049..363b35f61 100644
--- a/core/http/react-ui/src/pages/Middleware.jsx
+++ b/core/http/react-ui/src/pages/Middleware.jsx
@@ -931,7 +931,8 @@ function eventDetails(e) {
     }
     case 'admission': {
       const retry = e.duration_ms != null ? `retry-after ${Math.round(e.duration_ms / 1000)}s` : ''
-      return `HTTP 503 rejected · ${retry}`
+      // Older audit rows were recorded as 503; newer ones as 429.
+      return `HTTP ${e.status_code || 429} rejected · ${retry}`
     }
     default: {
       const len = e.length != null ? `len ${e.length}` : ''
diff --git a/core/services/routing/admission/admission.go b/core/services/routing/admission/admission.go
index 168248181..f37273373 100644
--- a/core/services/routing/admission/admission.go
+++ b/core/services/routing/admission/admission.go
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Package admission is routing-module subsystem 5: per-model
 // concurrency control + audit. The middleware acquires a slot
-// before the handler runs; on full, the request gets 503 with
+// before the handler runs; on full, the request gets 429 with
 // Retry-After so clients back off rather than pile on. The audit
 // row goes into the shared event store alongside PII and proxy
 // rows so admins see a single timeline of routing pressure.
diff --git a/core/services/routing/pii/types.go b/core/services/routing/pii/types.go
index c2e2510df..ad15ea462 100644
--- a/core/services/routing/pii/types.go
+++ b/core/services/routing/pii/types.go
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ const (
 	// model's MaxConcurrent ceiling is full. The Host field carries
 	// the model name (overloading the existing column rather than
 	// adding a new one — admins read it as "the thing that was
-	// busy"); StatusCode is 503.
+	// busy"); StatusCode is 429.
 	KindAdmission EventKind = "admission"
 )