diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 2f059136..13612e28 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ byobu (5.6) unreleased; urgency=low
   * usr/lib/byobu/ip_address:
     - user@host and ipaddress need some separation, as they're hard to
       differentiate when next to one another
+  * usr/bin/byobu-ctrl-a: LP: #922951
+    - if the user has already chosen an escape sequence, don't run the
+      interactive byobu-ctrl-a program
 
   [ Ryan Thompson ]
   * usr/bin/byobu-select-session: LP: #919391
diff --git a/usr/bin/byobu-ctrl-a b/usr/bin/byobu-ctrl-a
index f4bed34c..98ad4fbf 100755
--- a/usr/bin/byobu-ctrl-a
+++ b/usr/bin/byobu-ctrl-a
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ bind_to=""
 keybindings="$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/keybindings"
 touch "$keybindings"
 
+# If the user has already chosen an escape sequence, then
+# presumably they want ctrl-a to operate in emacs mode
+grep -qs "^escape" "$keybindings" && bind_to="emacs"
+
 case "${1}" in
 	-h|--help) Usage; exit 0;;
 	screen) bind_to="screen";;
@@ -66,7 +70,7 @@ done
 
 case "$bind_to" in
 	emacs)
-		$SED -i -e "/^register a /d" -e "/^bindkey \"^A\"/d" -e "/^escape /d" "$keybindings"
+		$SED -i -e "/^register a /d" -e "/^bindkey \"^A\"/d" -e "/^escape escape \^Aa/d" "$keybindings"
 		echo 'bindkey "^A"' >> "$keybindings"
 		echo "INFO: ctrl-a will now operate in emacs mode"
 		echo > "$keybindings.tmux"