diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 75e8352d17a..be33ce246d1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+- added flag `useList` to parse-pdr [CUMULUS-404]
+
 ## [v1.1.3] - 2018-03-14
 ### Fixed
 - Changed @cumulus/deployment package install behavior. The build process will happen after installation
diff --git a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/index.js b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/index.js
index 8aa992b8cfc..b4987abb48a 100644
--- a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/index.js
+++ b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/index.js
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ function parsePdr(event) {
     config.stack,
     config.bucket,
     config.collection,
-    provider
+    provider,
+    config.useList
   );
 
   return parse.ingest()
diff --git a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/schemas/config.json b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/schemas/config.json
index 23b94ab5af7..bc88e837665 100644
--- a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/schemas/config.json
+++ b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/schemas/config.json
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
         "name": { "type": "string" },
         "granuleIdExtraction": { "type": "string" }
       }
+    },
+    "useList": {
+      "description": "flag to tell ftp server to use 'LIST' instead of 'STAT'",
+      "default": false,
+      "type": "boolean"
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/tests/parse_pdrs_test.js b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/tests/parse_pdrs_test.js
index a15399750cf..0cb3ff3d98d 100644
--- a/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/tests/parse_pdrs_test.js
+++ b/cumulus/tasks/parse-pdr/tests/parse_pdrs_test.js
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ test('parse PDR from FTP endpoint', async (t) => {
     username: 'testuser',
     password: 'testpass'
   };
+  newPayload.config.useList = true;
 
   await validateConfig(t, newPayload.config);
 
diff --git a/packages/ingest/pdr.js b/packages/ingest/pdr.js
index afe3d5b747b..0d93dd36288 100644
--- a/packages/ingest/pdr.js
+++ b/packages/ingest/pdr.js
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ class Parse {
     bucket,
     collection,
     provider,
+    useList = false,
     folder = 'pdrs') {
     if (this.constructor === Parse) {
       throw new TypeError('Can not construct abstract class.');
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ class Parse {
     this.collection = collection;
     this.provider = provider;
     this.folder = folder;
+    this.useList = useList;
 
     this.port = get(this.provider, 'port', 21);
     this.host = get(this.provider, 'host', null);