Is 2 hr and 6 minutes enough time for Melbourne layover with transfer from international to domestic

Question

Im traveling from The U.S. to Adelaide and my layover in Melbourne is 2 hours and 6 minutes. Will this be enough time to collect and recheck my bag and go through customs. I'll be traveling on virgin australia and I really don't want to risk missing my connecting flight. If i miss my flight is there a chance they'll board me on another one?

Answer 1

Assuming the flight is on time, you're quite likely to make the connection. Australian immigration is quite fast now thanks to the e-gates (which both Australians and US citizens qualify for), and customs tends to be reasonably efficient as well; there's more variance here, but it's unlikely to take more than 30 min. Finally, unlike Sydney, in Melbourne the international and domestic terminals are directly connected so that's quite fast too. You should get both boarding passes at the initial checkin and IIRC there's a facility to redeposit connecting flight bags after Customs, so you don't need to queue up and checkin again either.

If you do miss your connecting flight for reasons outside your control (incoming flight delayed etc), Virgin will put you on the next flight free of charge. Capital city corridors like Melbourne to Adelaide have frequent service.