diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
index 73e29e6eb9a6a..88a2fded3500c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
@@ -135,7 +135,9 @@ def test_iterator(self):
         (pd.read_csv, 'os', FileNotFoundError, 'csv'),
         (pd.read_fwf, 'os', FileNotFoundError, 'txt'),
         (pd.read_excel, 'xlrd', FileNotFoundError, 'xlsx'),
-        (pd.read_feather, 'feather', Exception, 'feather'),
+        pytest.param(
+            pd.read_feather, 'feather', Exception, 'feather',
+            marks=pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing for pyarrow < 0.11.0")),
         (pd.read_hdf, 'tables', FileNotFoundError, 'h5'),
         (pd.read_stata, 'os', FileNotFoundError, 'dta'),
         (pd.read_sas, 'os', FileNotFoundError, 'sas7bdat'),
@@ -160,7 +162,10 @@ def test_read_non_existant_read_table(self):
         (pd.read_csv, 'os', ('io', 'data', 'iris.csv')),
         (pd.read_fwf, 'os', ('io', 'data', 'fixed_width_format.txt')),
         (pd.read_excel, 'xlrd', ('io', 'data', 'test1.xlsx')),
-        (pd.read_feather, 'feather', ('io', 'data', 'feather-0_3_1.feather')),
+        pytest.param(
+            pd.read_feather, 'feather',
+            ('io', 'data', 'feather-0_3_1.feather'),
+            marks=pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing for pyarrow < 0.11.0")),
         (pd.read_hdf, 'tables', ('io', 'data', 'legacy_hdf',
                                  'datetimetz_object.h5')),
         (pd.read_stata, 'os', ('io', 'data', 'stata10_115.dta')),
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_feather.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_feather.py
index 9d04111d64125..36118fb1303fc 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_feather.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_feather.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 fv = LooseVersion(feather.__version__)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing for pyarrow < 0.11.0")
 @pytest.mark.single
 class TestFeather(object):
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_gbq.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_gbq.py
index 68413d610e615..bc604e066a3e8 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_gbq.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_gbq.py
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ def test_read_gbq_without_dialect_warns_future_change(monkeypatch):
         pd.read_gbq("SELECT 1")
 
 
+@pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing for pandas-gbq >= 0.7.0")
 @pytest.mark.single
 class TestToGBQIntegrationWithServiceAccountKeyPath(object):
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_parquet.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_parquet.py
index ab7f04ad86ffc..c92d9a489b5c3 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_parquet.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_parquet.py
@@ -437,6 +437,7 @@ def test_duplicate_columns(self, pa):
                           columns=list('aaa')).copy()
         self.check_error_on_write(df, pa, ValueError)
 
+    @pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing for pyarrow < 0.11.0")
     def test_unsupported(self, pa):
         # period
         df = pd.DataFrame({'a': pd.period_range('2013', freq='M', periods=3)})