How would you define service that goes above and beyond? Perhaps a stewardess who doesn't mind feeding you an extra sandwich, or a steward who tries his best to find an aisle seat for you.

But Singapore Airlines (SIA) goes one better, as Gary Leung found out. Traveling in business class from London to Hong Kong on flight SQ860, he decided to switch SIM cards in his mobile phone. Unfortunately, he dropped the tiny card, which slid right between the storage compartment and the seat armrest.

Lost forever? Not if Chief Steward Foo Wen Huee had anything to say about it.

Leung had already tried to use his in-flight magazine and his charging cable + ear phones to try and push the card out, but to no avail. Foo assessed the situation, disappeared into the galley, and returned with two ice prongs straightened out and taped together for a makeshift pick that MacGyver himself would have been proud of.

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Although that didn't work despite Foo's diligence, he kept trying. Things were made more difficult due to a recessed groove at the bottom of the storage compartment which the SIM card unfortunately got stuck in.

As the plane approached its destination, Foo had a last card up his sleeve. He asked the ground crew to join him as Leung disembarked. Even though he was already off the plane by now, Foo continued to send Leung pictures by Whatsapp, showing how the engineers literally dismantled parts of the seat to look for the card.

Why go to all this effort for one SIM card? As Leung explained:

"This was my Singapore prepaid card. I have since left Singapore and use the card for one time pin (OTP) via SMS from my banks, government agencies, etc. To replace the card I would need to go back to Singapore in person, and my next trip isn't until October."

Spoiler alert: Foo and his A Team didn't manage to find the SIM card after all. But Leung was very appreciative of the hard work they put in, and decided to write a post on SIA's Facebook page to thank them for their efforts.

The post hit a chord with readers. As of 11:00pm on Sep. 26, it had garnered 4,400 likes/reactions and 340 shares. You can see it below:

As Leung explained, he developed a deep loyalty to SIA for its high service standards over the years, with Foo's efforts to help him as just another example. Although they didn't manage to find the SIM card, they did manage to satisfy one passenger.

This is exactly what Michelle Chong was talking about, by the way, when she talked about taking pride in your work.

And remember that when you fly in other countries, as long as you're not bleeding from the mouth and being dragged down the aisle by jackbooted thugs, you can count yourself lucky.

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Top image from Gary Leung's Facebook page.