diff --git a/spec/util/subscribeWith-spec.ts b/spec/util/subscribeWith-spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1d25ff2a6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/util/subscribeWith-spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { of, Subscriber, observable } from 'rxjs';
+import { subscribeWith } from 'rxjs/internal/util/subscribeWith';
+import { asInteropObservable, asInteropSubscriber } from '../helpers/interop-helper';
+
+describe('subscribeWith', () => {
+  it('should return the subscriber for interop observables', () => {
+    const observable = asInteropObservable(of(42));
+    const subscriber = new Subscriber<number>();
+    const subscription = subscribeWith(observable, subscriber);
+    expect(subscription).to.equal(subscriber);
+  });
+
+  it('should return the subscriber for interop subscribers', () => {
+    const observable = of(42);
+    const subscriber = asInteropSubscriber(new Subscriber<number>());
+    const subscription = subscribeWith(observable, subscriber);
+    expect(subscription).to.equal(subscriber);
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/catchError.ts b/src/internal/operators/catchError.ts
index 0ea078ab08..68d50fe771 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/catchError.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/catchError.ts
@@ -153,13 +153,7 @@ class CatchSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, T | R> {
       this._unsubscribeAndRecycle();
       const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, undefined, undefined!);
       this.add(innerSubscriber);
-      const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult(this, result, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-      // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-      // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-      // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-      if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-        this.add(innerSubscription);
-      }
+      subscribeToResult(this, result, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/exhaustMap.ts b/src/internal/operators/exhaustMap.ts
index 77f2a396d1..27f209c61d 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/exhaustMap.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/exhaustMap.ts
@@ -124,13 +124,7 @@ class ExhaustMapSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
     const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, value, index);
     const destination = this.destination as Subscription;
     destination.add(innerSubscriber);
-    const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, result, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-    // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-    // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-    // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-    if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-      destination.add(innerSubscription);
-    }
+    subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, result, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
   }
 
   protected _complete(): void {
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/mergeMap.ts b/src/internal/operators/mergeMap.ts
index a19f65df8f..4f49d2fc48 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/mergeMap.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/mergeMap.ts
@@ -144,13 +144,7 @@ export class MergeMapSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
     const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, value, index);
     const destination = this.destination as Subscription;
     destination.add(innerSubscriber);
-    const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, ish, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-    // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-    // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-    // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-    if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-      destination.add(innerSubscription);
-    }
+    subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, ish, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
   }
 
   protected _complete(): void {
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/mergeScan.ts b/src/internal/operators/mergeScan.ts
index 0572ed7af2..d985275291 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/mergeScan.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/mergeScan.ts
@@ -105,13 +105,7 @@ export class MergeScanSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
     const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, value, index);
     const destination = this.destination as Subscription;
     destination.add(innerSubscriber);
-    const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, ish, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-    // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-    // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-    // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-    if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-      destination.add(innerSubscription);
-    }
+    subscribeToResult<T, R>(this, ish, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
   }
 
   protected _complete(): void {
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/onErrorResumeNext.ts b/src/internal/operators/onErrorResumeNext.ts
index aab2790274..b2b2027a1a 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/onErrorResumeNext.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/onErrorResumeNext.ts
@@ -161,13 +161,7 @@ class OnErrorResumeNextSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
       const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, undefined, undefined!);
       const destination = this.destination as Subscription;
       destination.add(innerSubscriber);
-      const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult(this, next, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-      // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-      // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-      // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-      if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-        destination.add(innerSubscription);
-      }
+      subscribeToResult(this, next, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
     } else {
       this.destination.complete();
     }
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/skipUntil.ts b/src/internal/operators/skipUntil.ts
index 28d1e363dc..12912cffa0 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/skipUntil.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/skipUntil.ts
@@ -73,14 +73,7 @@ class SkipUntilSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
     const innerSubscriber = new InnerSubscriber(this, undefined, undefined!);
     this.add(innerSubscriber);
     this.innerSubscription = innerSubscriber;
-    const innerSubscription = subscribeToResult(this, notifier, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-    // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-    // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-    // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-    if (innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-      this.add(innerSubscription);
-      this.innerSubscription = innerSubscription;
-    }
+    subscribeToResult(this, notifier, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
   }
 
   protected _next(value: T) {
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/switchMap.ts b/src/internal/operators/switchMap.ts
index c460787200..72c8f3ddbc 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/switchMap.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/switchMap.ts
@@ -136,12 +136,6 @@ class SwitchMapSubscriber<T, R> extends OuterSubscriber<T, R> {
     const destination = this.destination as Subscription;
     destination.add(innerSubscriber);
     this.innerSubscription = subscribeToResult(this, result, undefined, undefined, innerSubscriber);
-    // The returned subscription will usually be the subscriber that was
-    // passed. However, interop subscribers will be wrapped and for
-    // unsubscriptions to chain correctly, the wrapper needs to be added, too.
-    if (this.innerSubscription !== innerSubscriber) {
-      destination.add(this.innerSubscription);
-    }
   }
 
   protected _complete(): void {
diff --git a/src/internal/util/subscribeToObservable.ts b/src/internal/util/subscribeToObservable.ts
index 36b7cb283f..5cf469aecc 100644
--- a/src/internal/util/subscribeToObservable.ts
+++ b/src/internal/util/subscribeToObservable.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { Subscriber } from '../Subscriber';
 import { observable as Symbol_observable } from '../symbol/observable';
+import { subscribeWith } from './subscribeWith';
 
 /**
  * Subscribes to an object that implements Symbol.observable with the given
@@ -12,6 +13,6 @@ export const subscribeToObservable = <T>(obj: any) => (subscriber: Subscriber<T>
     // Should be caught by observable subscribe function error handling.
     throw new TypeError('Provided object does not correctly implement Symbol.observable');
   } else {
-    return obs.subscribe(subscriber);
+    return subscribeWith(obs, subscriber);
   }
 };
diff --git a/src/internal/util/subscribeWith.ts b/src/internal/util/subscribeWith.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a149581cb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/internal/util/subscribeWith.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { Observable } from '../Observable';
+import { Subscriber } from '../Subscriber';
+import { Subscription } from '../Subscription';
+
+/**
+ * Subscribes a subscriber to an observable and ensures the subscriber is
+ * returned as the subscription.
+ *
+ * When an instance of a subscriber from within this package is passed to the
+ * subscribe method of an observable from within this package, the returned
+ * subscription is the subscriber instance.
+ *
+ * Operator implementations depend upon this behaviour, so it's important
+ * that interop subscribers and observables behave in a similar manner. If
+ * they do not, unsubscription chains can be broken.
+ *
+ * This function ensures that if the subscription returned from the subscribe
+ * call is not the subscriber itself, the subscription is added to the
+ * subscriber and the subscriber is returned. Doing so will ensure that the
+ * unsubscription chain is not broken.
+ *
+ * This function needs to be used wherever an interop observable or
+ * subscriber could be encountered. There are two such places:
+ * - within `subscribeToObservable`; and
+ * - within the `call` method of each operator's `Operator` class.
+ *
+ * Within `subscribeToObservable` the observables are almost always going to
+ * be interop - as they're obtained via the `Symbol.observable` property.
+ *
+ * Within the `call` method, the operator's subscriber will be interop -
+ * relative to the source observable - if the operator is imported from a
+ * package that uses a different version of RxJS.
+ *
+ * @param observable the observable to subscribe to
+ * @param subscriber the subscriber to be subscribed
+ * @returns the passed-in subscriber (as the subscription)
+ */
+export function subscribeWith<T>(
+  observable: Observable<T>,
+  subscriber: Subscriber<T>
+): Subscription {
+  const subscription = observable.subscribe(subscriber);
+  if (subscription !== subscriber) {
+    subscriber.add(subscription);
+  }
+  return subscriber;
+}
\ No newline at end of file