Philadelphia airport sets record with 1,291 cheesesteaks lined up

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travelers passing through Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday expected long security lines, but organizers said the longest line at the airport was made of cheesesteaks instead. The cheesesteak sandwich display inside a departure hall was part of National Cheesesteak Day, and organizers said it was certified as a Guinness World Record.

According to the organizers, Philadelphia set the record by lining up 1,291 cheesesteak sandwiches inside the departure hall. They said the effort went well beyond the previous benchmark of 500 sandwiches, which organizers described as the earlier standard for the longest line.

Clarence LeJeune, who is with MarketPlace PHL, said the goal was to set a world record in Philadelphia. “We went for the world record for the longest cheesesteak in history,” LeJeune said. He added, “Today we accomplished that goal here in Philadelphia.”

Volunteers assembled the sandwiches along tables set up in the walkway between Terminals B and C. Organizers said the volunteers filled rolls from silver buckets as people moved past airport storefronts, assembling the long line of cheesesteaks for the Guinness attempt.

Organizers said the record attempt also built in distribution after certification. After Guinness certified the display, volunteers handed out sandwiches to travelers, airport workers and Transportation Security Administration staff.

Michael Empric, a Guinness World Records adjudicator, said the rules for record attempts require all food used to be eaten or donated. “In this case, they are going to TSA agents who definitely could use some lunch,” Empric said.

LeJeune also discussed what he called the flexibility of cheesesteak rules, while referencing a past controversy about a customer’s choice of cheese. He joked there are few hard rules for cheesesteaks and said, “You don’t ask for Swiss cheese,” describing it as part of the “beauty of the experience” and alluding to a 2003 moment when then-presidential candidate John Kerry drew criticism in Philadelphia for ordering a cheesesteak with Swiss.