Even among ICAO standards, in places like CVG and ATL (at least) the controllers will say "Dixie" instead of Delta for taxiways, simply so there is no confusion between taxiways and airline callsign. Don't know where the above US story is from, but yes kinda embarrassing from a pilot perspective to hear a whiny pilot when the convention is understood and accepted by the supermajority. There is no ICAO standard phraseology for FA.