Rant: a stuck lint trap door on a dryer ate 3 hours of my Tuesday

Had a dryer call over in Cedar Rapids last Tuesday that I figured would be a 45 minute job, clean the vent, swap a thermal fuse, done. The lint trap door was jammed shut and I could not get it to pop for the life of me. I tried a putty knife, then a trim tool, then a bent coat hanger, and the plastic housing just would not give. Turns out a sock had gotten pulled down behind the filter and wrapped itself around the latch tab, so every time I pulled the door it just grabbed harder. I finally pulled the whole top panel off to get at it from above and had the thing freed in about 5 minutes after that. Three hours of my day gone over a single sock and a plastic tab. Any of you got a trick for freeing a jammed trap door without tearing the machine apart, or is pulling the top just the way it goes?