diff --git a/nova/objects/instance.py b/nova/objects/instance.py
index da6df09ad1bd..32c99cfc20f2 100644
--- a/nova/objects/instance.py
+++ b/nova/objects/instance.py
@@ -323,29 +323,31 @@ class Instance(base.NovaPersistentObject, base.NovaObject,
         # Before we stored flavors in instance_extra, certain fields, defined
         # in nova.compute.flavors.system_metadata_flavor_props, were stored
         # in the instance.system_metadata for the embedded instance.flavor.
-        # The "disabled" field wasn't one of those keys, however, so really
-        # old instances that had their embedded flavor converted to the
-        # serialized instance_extra form won't have the disabled attribute
-        # set and we need to default those here so callers don't explode trying
-        # to load instance.flavor.disabled.
-        def _default_disabled(flavor):
+        # The "disabled" and "is_public" fields weren't one of those keys,
+        # however, so really old instances that had their embedded flavor
+        # converted to the serialized instance_extra form won't have the
+        # disabled attribute set and we need to default those here so callers
+        # don't explode trying to load instance.flavor.disabled.
+        def _default_flavor_values(flavor):
             if 'disabled' not in flavor:
                 flavor.disabled = False
+            if 'is_public' not in flavor:
+                flavor.is_public = True
 
         flavor_info = jsonutils.loads(db_flavor)
 
         self.flavor = objects.Flavor.obj_from_primitive(flavor_info['cur'])
-        _default_disabled(self.flavor)
+        _default_flavor_values(self.flavor)
         if flavor_info['old']:
             self.old_flavor = objects.Flavor.obj_from_primitive(
                 flavor_info['old'])
-            _default_disabled(self.old_flavor)
+            _default_flavor_values(self.old_flavor)
         else:
             self.old_flavor = None
         if flavor_info['new']:
             self.new_flavor = objects.Flavor.obj_from_primitive(
                 flavor_info['new'])
-            _default_disabled(self.new_flavor)
+            _default_flavor_values(self.new_flavor)
         else:
             self.new_flavor = None
         self.obj_reset_changes(['flavor', 'old_flavor', 'new_flavor'])
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
index 3ea396694745..966e0bcd2ae1 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
@@ -357,8 +357,10 @@ class _TestInstanceObject(object):
         # make sure we default the "new" flavor's disabled value to False on
         # load from the database.
         fake_flavor = jsonutils.dumps(
-            {'cur': objects.Flavor(disabled=False).obj_to_primitive(),
-             'old': objects.Flavor(disabled=True).obj_to_primitive(),
+            {'cur': objects.Flavor(disabled=False,
+                                   is_public=True).obj_to_primitive(),
+             'old': objects.Flavor(disabled=True,
+                                   is_public=False).obj_to_primitive(),
              'new': objects.Flavor().obj_to_primitive()})
         fake_inst = dict(self.fake_instance, extra={'flavor': fake_flavor})
         mock_get.return_value = fake_inst
@@ -366,6 +368,10 @@ class _TestInstanceObject(object):
         self.assertFalse(inst.flavor.disabled)
         self.assertTrue(inst.old_flavor.disabled)
         self.assertFalse(inst.new_flavor.disabled)
+        # Assert the is_public values on the flavors
+        self.assertTrue(inst.flavor.is_public)
+        self.assertFalse(inst.old_flavor.is_public)
+        self.assertTrue(inst.new_flavor.is_public)
 
     @mock.patch.object(db, 'instance_get_by_uuid')
     def test_get_remote(self, mock_get):