Multi-chasis ethernet link aggregation

In one embodiment a method is provided for forwarding traffic through a standby device in the event of an uplink connection failure. The method generally includes forwarding traffic received on a first downlink connection with a dual-homed device to an uplink connection with a network core, detecting a failure on the uplink connection with the network core, and in response to detecting the failure, notifying a standby device of the failure and sending a message to the dual-homed device to trigger the dual-homed device to begin forwarding traffic to the network core via a second downlink connection between the standby device and the dual-homed device.