I'm not sure there is a "righter" way. I guess we could have everyone spin a wheel, pick a number out of a hat, or something like that but it doesn't change the fact that Delta has to figure out some way to put everyone on the list.

As someone else pointed out a few pages ago, the SSN is a pre-randomized way of doing it. The way I see it, nobody in a newhire class has a claim or right to any advantage over another pilot in that same class. They all showed up on day 1 together. Even though I don't have a dog in the fight, randomizing it with the SSN seems the "rightest" way to go, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.