diff --git a/go/adbc/adbc.go b/go/adbc/adbc.go
index 636320fa31..6920195b84 100644
--- a/go/adbc/adbc.go
+++ b/go/adbc/adbc.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func (d *ProtobufErrorDetail) Serialize() ([]byte, error) {
 	return proto.Marshal(any)
 }
 
-// ProtobufErrorDetail is an ErrorDetail backed by a human-readable string.
+// TextErrorDetail is an ErrorDetail backed by a human-readable string.
 type TextErrorDetail struct {
 	Name   string
 	Detail string
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func (d *TextErrorDetail) Serialize() ([]byte, error) {
 	return []byte(d.Detail), nil
 }
 
-// ProtobufErrorDetail is an ErrorDetail backed by a binary payload.
+// BinaryErrorDetail is an ErrorDetail backed by a binary payload.
 type BinaryErrorDetail struct {
 	Name   string
 	Detail []byte
diff --git a/go/adbc/driver/flightsql/utils.go b/go/adbc/driver/flightsql/utils.go
index acd3ca2dea..52824c8d26 100644
--- a/go/adbc/driver/flightsql/utils.go
+++ b/go/adbc/driver/flightsql/utils.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package flightsql
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -30,13 +31,15 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/anypb"
 )
 
+const grpcStatusDetailsBin = "grpc-status-details-bin"
+
 func adbcFromFlightStatus(err error, context string, args ...any) error {
 	var header, trailer metadata.MD
 	return adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err, header, trailer, context, args...)
 }
 
 func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, context string, args ...any) error {
-	if _, ok := err.(adbc.Error); ok {
+	if ok := errors.Is(err, adbc.Error{}); ok {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -84,7 +87,13 @@ func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, con
 
 	details := []adbc.ErrorDetail{}
 	for _, detail := range grpcStatus.Proto().Details {
-		details = append(details, &anyErrorDetail{name: "grpc-status-details-bin", message: detail})
+		if detailProto, err := detail.UnmarshalNew(); err != nil {
+			// if we could decode into proto, use ProtobufErrorDetail
+			details = append(details, &adbc.ProtobufErrorDetail{Name: grpcStatusDetailsBin, Message: detailProto})
+		} else {
+			// proceed with any, maybe the user knows how to deserialize?
+			details = append(details, &anyErrorDetail{name: grpcStatusDetailsBin, message: detail})
+		}
 	}
 
 	// XXX(https://github.com/grpc/grpc-go/issues/5485): don't count on
@@ -97,7 +106,7 @@ func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, con
 		case key == "content-type":
 			// Not useful info
 			continue
-		case key == "grpc-status-details-bin":
+		case key == grpcStatusDetailsBin:
 			// gRPC library parses this above via grpcStatus.Proto()
 			continue
 		case strings.HasSuffix(key, "-bin"):
@@ -107,6 +116,9 @@ func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, con
 			}
 		default:
 			for _, value := range values {
+				if strings.HasPrefix(value, "Grpc-") {
+					continue
+				}
 				details = append(details, &adbc.TextErrorDetail{Name: key, Detail: value})
 			}
 		}
@@ -116,7 +128,7 @@ func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, con
 		case key == "content-type":
 			// Not useful info
 			continue
-		case key == "grpc-status-details-bin":
+		case key == grpcStatusDetailsBin:
 			// gRPC library parses this above via grpcStatus.Proto()
 			continue
 		case strings.HasSuffix(key, "-bin"):
@@ -126,6 +138,9 @@ func adbcFromFlightStatusWithDetails(err error, header, trailer metadata.MD, con
 			}
 		default:
 			for _, value := range values {
+				if strings.HasPrefix(value, "Grpc-") {
+					continue
+				}
 				details = append(details, &adbc.TextErrorDetail{Name: key, Detail: value})
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_errors.py b/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_errors.py
index d572589aee..e90d79f2ba 100644
--- a/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_errors.py
+++ b/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_errors.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import threading
 import time
 
-import google.protobuf.any_pb2 as any_pb2
 import google.protobuf.wrappers_pb2 as wrappers_pb2
 import pytest
 
@@ -30,10 +29,8 @@ def assert_detail(e):
     # Check that the expected error details are present
     found = set()
     for _, detail in e.details:
-        anyproto = any_pb2.Any()
-        anyproto.ParseFromString(detail)
         string = wrappers_pb2.StringValue()
-        anyproto.Unpack(string)
+        string.ParseFromString(detail)
         found.add(string.value)
     assert found == {"detail1", "detail2"}
 
diff --git a/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_incremental.py b/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_incremental.py
index 285c18a831..2088da8a00 100644
--- a/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_incremental.py
+++ b/python/adbc_driver_flightsql/tests/test_incremental.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import re
 import threading
 
-import google.protobuf.any_pb2 as any_pb2
 import google.protobuf.wrappers_pb2 as wrappers_pb2
 import pyarrow
 import pyarrow.flight
@@ -46,10 +45,8 @@ def test_incremental_error(test_dbapi) -> None:
 
         found = set()
         for _, detail in exc_info.value.details:
-            anyproto = any_pb2.Any()
-            anyproto.ParseFromString(detail)
             string = wrappers_pb2.StringValue()
-            anyproto.Unpack(string)
+            string.ParseFromString(detail)
             found.add(string.value)
         assert found == {"detail1", "detail2"}