I've submitted to A3 as well. Gold there now, all it took was one roundtrip TK business class longhaul flight (OSL-BKK on sale, around 7200 NOK). I was planning to go with TK, but since people here reported a 2014 expiry and TK would have taken me longer time to build up, then I submitted and went with A3
God, I am gonna miss Diamond Club