diff --git a/src/builtin_complete.cpp b/src/builtin_complete.cpp
index bca0d85d9..286c09aa9 100644
--- a/src/builtin_complete.cpp
+++ b/src/builtin_complete.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 #include "wgetopt.h"
 #include "wutil.h"  // IWYU pragma: keep
 
+// This boolean ensures we only issue the warning about using the -A/--authoritative flag one time.
+static bool authoritative_flag_warning = false;
+
 // builtin_complete_* are a set of rather silly looping functions that make sure that all the proper
 // combinations of complete_add or complete_remove get called. This is needed since complete allows
 // you to specify multiple switches on a single commandline, like 'complete -s a -s b -s c', but the
@@ -184,13 +187,23 @@ int builtin_complete(parser_t &parser, io_streams_t &streams, wchar_t **argv) {
                 break;
             }
             case 'u': {
-                streams.err.append_format(
-                    _(L"%ls: -u / --unauthoritative flags have been removed\n"), cmd);
+                if (!authoritative_flag_warning) {
+                    streams.err.append_format(
+                        _(L"%ls: Please update your completion scripts by removing "
+                          L"-u / --unauthoritative / -A / --authoritative flags."),
+                        cmd);
+                    authoritative_flag_warning = true;
+                }
                 break;
             }
             case 'A': {
-                streams.err.append_format(_(L"%ls: -A / --authoritative flags have been removed\n"),
-                                          cmd);
+                if (!authoritative_flag_warning) {
+                    streams.err.append_format(
+                        _(L"%ls: Please update your completion scripts by removing "
+                          L"-u / --unauthoritative / -A / --authoritative flags."),
+                        cmd);
+                    authoritative_flag_warning = true;
+                }
                 break;
             }
             case 's': {