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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?
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.
