Originally Posted by MikeMpls
They are retained by and working on behalf of NW. The appearance and manner in which those security checks are done are entirely NW's responsibility. 9/11 has little to do with how the additional security checks are implemented by the individual airlines. Since 9/11 my wife & I have flown in/out/through at least 9 countries, and this was the only location where we received such an interrogation at checkin. And this flight wasn't even terminating in the U.S. -- every one had to disembark & reboard different planes in Tokyo.
It is the same with United in Singapore, and even worse in Bangkok. This is pretty standard for US-flagged airlines, and I'd be surprised if NW did NOT have the same set up.
Changi also has the same security doing BP checks at the gates. Did that bother you too?
The TG lounge really isn't bad. Referring to it as "low-rent" just emphasizes that you are expecting too much, and then you should only fly to and from airline hubs on the airlines that are hubbed there. (the exception at SIN is BA/QF because so many kangaroo routes stop in SIN, but every other lounge save SQ is about the same)