Originally Posted by alect
Well there is at least a cultural barrier to overcome - eg in UK (and until recently) Austrlalia Gold is/was seen as the highest level, while in the US Platinum (and EXP) is seen as of higher status than gold. The only other alternative would be to go to Emerald/Sapphire/Ruby for the entire card (rather than just the circle) but each of those does not necessarily hold the same cache in different cultures.
Very true, but it would certainly be a good differentiator between OW and other programmes.
I am still of the opinion that the news article is suspect.