I'm flying from Seoul (ICN) to Malta (MLA) next month. I arrive at 0620 into IST, but I'm booked on the evening flight to Malta (12 hour layover) due to no business class on the morning flight at 0755. I'm not bothered about flying business on the short hop from IST - Malta, I'd rather get there earlier, so called the customer line to ask if they could downgrade that last segment and move me to the earlier flight - the answer was no, they could only change the whole flight from Seoul.

I've booked an economy flight from IST - MLA on the morning flight, so I now have 2 bookings. My question is, will I be able to check in online and go straight to the gate for the morning flight (avoiding entering Turkey)? I'm happy to lose the evening flight. I'm travelling hand luggage only so no hold luggage.

I'd prefer to advise Turkish (to avoid delay to the evening flight) but the customer helpline don't seem to be able to help.