diff --git a/api/constants/constants.go b/api/constants/constants.go
index 95977dbe71c83..e886e11aa5269 100644
--- a/api/constants/constants.go
+++ b/api/constants/constants.go
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ const (
 
 const (
 	// TimeoutGetClusterAlerts is the timeout for grabbing cluster alerts from tctl and tsh
-	TimeoutGetClusterAlerts = time.Millisecond * 500
+	TimeoutGetClusterAlerts = time.Millisecond * 750
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/tool/common/common.go b/tool/common/common.go
index b033155d04a63..33b356c426549 100644
--- a/tool/common/common.go
+++ b/tool/common/common.go
@@ -118,10 +118,7 @@ type ClusterAlertGetter interface {
 // ShowClusterAlerts shows cluster alerts with the given labels and severity.
 func ShowClusterAlerts(ctx context.Context, client ClusterAlertGetter, w io.Writer, labels map[string]string, minSeverity, maxSeverity types.AlertSeverity) error {
 	// get any "on login" alerts
-	alertCtx, cancelAlertCtx := context.WithTimeout(ctx, constants.TimeoutGetClusterAlerts)
-	defer cancelAlertCtx()
-
-	alerts, err := client.GetClusterAlerts(alertCtx, types.GetClusterAlertsRequest{
+	alerts, err := client.GetClusterAlerts(ctx, types.GetClusterAlertsRequest{
 		Labels:   labels,
 		Severity: minSeverity,
 	})
diff --git a/tool/tctl/common/tctl.go b/tool/tctl/common/tctl.go
index 7d57c98fb47ad..f30312c968e57 100644
--- a/tool/tctl/common/tctl.go
+++ b/tool/tctl/common/tctl.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport"
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/api/breaker"
+	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/api/constants"
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/api/types"
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/lib/auth"
 	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/lib/auth/authclient"
@@ -215,6 +216,8 @@ func TryRun(commands []CLICommand, args []string) error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, constants.TimeoutGetClusterAlerts)
+	defer cancel()
 	if err := common.ShowClusterAlerts(ctx, client, os.Stderr, nil,
 		types.AlertSeverity_HIGH, types.AlertSeverity_HIGH); err != nil {
 		log.WithError(err).Warn("Failed to display cluster alerts.")
diff --git a/tool/tsh/tsh.go b/tool/tsh/tsh.go
index e0650120c726e..8422854c1d599 100644
--- a/tool/tsh/tsh.go
+++ b/tool/tsh/tsh.go
@@ -1207,6 +1207,13 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, args []string, opts ...cliOption) error {
 	case show.FullCommand():
 		err = onShow(&cf)
 	case status.FullCommand():
+		// onStatus can be invoked directly with `tsh status` but is also
+		// invoked from other commands. When invoked directly, we use a
+		// context with a short timeout to prevent the command from taking
+		// too long due to fetching alerts on slow networks.
+		var cancel context.CancelFunc
+		cf.Context, cancel = context.WithTimeout(cf.Context, constants.TimeoutGetClusterAlerts)
+		defer cancel()
 		err = onStatus(&cf)
 	case lsApps.FullCommand():
 		err = onApps(&cf)