diff --git a/script/traffic_replay b/script/traffic_replay
index 617a746be1b..9642ea87d05 100755
--- a/script/traffic_replay
+++ b/script/traffic_replay
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def main():
                 duration = opts.duration
 
         except ValueError as e:
-            if not e.message.startswith('need more than'):
+            if not str(e).startswith('need more than'):
                 raise
 
             model = traffic.TrafficModel()