diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index f382eb6b55c..794d5249d15 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     Waylan Limberg <waylan@gmail.com>
     limodou
     Philip Lindborg <philip.lindborg@gmail.com>
+    msaelices <msaelices@gmail.com>
     Matt McClanahan <http://mmcc.cx/>
     Martin Maney <http://www.chipy.org/Martin_Maney>
     masonsimon+django@gmail.com
diff --git a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
index 94717063633..382212bb701 100644
--- a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
+++ b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class SessionBase(object):
         try:
             return self._session_cache
         except AttributeError:
-            if self.session_key is None:
+            if self._session_key is None:
                 self._session_cache = {}
             else:
                 self._session_cache = self.load()