What's the Point of Points?

I hate mileage programs. I know they are supposed to encourage loyalty and for a while I was being loyal to one airline - Air Canada - due to all my Boston-Toronto flights. And just as I was nearing enough points for a free round-trip ticket, they pulled the rug out from under me. I went to check my account balance one day and wham! All my points were gone. I called the airline and was told my points had expired due to inactivity.

That's all good and fine except for two things - a) I was never informed my points would expire; and b) I had been 'active' through one of the airline's partners but they wouldn't accept that excuse without a copy of my boarding pass (which of course I no longer had). I called up the partner airline and they wouldn't re-issue a copy of the old boarding pass without me paying an exorbitant fee.

It's still a sore point for me - as you may have noticed - even though this happened over a year ago. But it's also resigned me to the fact that I will never get enough points for a free flight and on the off chance that I do, I will
likely have those points revoked 5 minutes before booking that flight. Or I will just never be able to find a flight that I can use on points (unless it's one with two connections and a red-eye itinerary for what could have been a 2 hour direct flight).

I am especially angry at Air Canada - an airline that I had been loyal to for years - for revoking my points without notifying me of their new expiration date policy. I tell everyone to avoid flying them at all costs and even get points on one of their partner airlines anytime I am forced to fly them. That'll show them! Or will it? I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens to me on another airline. It's like the roadrunner and the coyote - I feel like I'll always be chasing that darn bird and inevitably end up suspended in the air for a second over a great chasm, only to find myself plummeting down to the bedrock below.