Hi all -- flying tomorrow LH 449 connecting 4 hours later to EN 8854. (Flying J, no status). Lucky us, looks like the LH flight normally arrives into Z, but tomorrow we get B23 instead. The Air Dolomiti flight most commonly leaves from C1. So, after exhaustively searching the forum, hoping someone can help answer my lingering questions:

1) Am I right in thinking that the B-to-Z bus is operational these days? If so, am I crazy to consider taking the bus to Z and then clearing passport control into A, in order to avoid the unnecessary security check? Time is not an issue, so it feels like we'd rather use our legs for a longer walk rather than deal with an annoying security line... but someone tell me if that's unbearably stupid.

2) Assuming we are flying out of C1... is that functionally just like flying out of a B Schengen gate? i.e., once in Schengen, do we reach it by taking the tunnel from A, or is some other route necessary?

3) If our top layover priority is a nice hot shower, are we best to just get through passport control and into Schengen and then head to the Panorama lounge? Or would folks instead suggest hitting one of the non-Schengen lounges first before clearing border controls?

Thanks in advance for any insight!