4
votes

I'm Egyptian and flying to Cairo from Tbilisi, via Istanbul. The first flight Tbilisi-Istanbul is on Atlasjet, then from Istanbul to Cairo I am flying on Egyptair. For that, I have to recheck in at Istanbul to my Egyptair flight

Will I need to pass passport control at Istanbul airport to collect my bags and check in on Egyptair? Will I need a transit visa for that? Or it can be all done through neutral zone?

1
  • Did they transfer your luggage to the other airline or what did you have to do?
    – J Spen
    Oct 6, 2014 at 7:16

1 Answer 1

4
votes

No, you will not need special paperwork or to collect your bags. From http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-EN/preflight/Pages/Transfer.aspx :

International Transfer Passengers With An International Connection Flight A boarding card is issued for the passenger (if not issued in the country of origin) at the transit desk of the relevant handling company on the Arrivals floor. The passenger does not go through passport control. Instead, he/she directly proceeds through the transit area into the International Departures area. Baggage will be automatically transferred to the connecting flight.

That said, my passport was looked at quite a lot during the whole transfer process, and there was all kinds of lining up, but it was all relatively quick and I didn't even have the boarding pass so I had to line up at a transfer desk to get it. The challenge there was finding the right transfer desk but it worked out in the end.

3
  • If I understand this correctly, you'll never see your bags until the final destination. A subtle difference perhaps, but if you were counting on getting something out of the checked bag it won't be happening. Jul 19, 2014 at 15:29
  • 2
    Won't that depend on if it's one or two tickets though? If it's two tickets, and the first airline only checked as far at Istanbul, then they won't automatically be transferred...
    – Gagravarr
    Jul 19, 2014 at 17:46
  • @Gagravarr - What ended up happening here?
    – J Spen
    Oct 6, 2014 at 7:16

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