Why this exists
Most points advice is written to get you to apply for a card. You can tell, because the recommendation never changes and the maths is never shown. This site is built the other way around: every number on it is one you can check, and when a deal is bad I say so on the same line as the deal.
I run The Points Route myself. I am not a travel agency and I do not have a back channel to the airlines. What I have is the same booking tools you do, used carefully, on real trips.
What I've actually booked
The bookings on the home page are mine. Real routes, real cabins, the number of points each one cost and the cash fare it replaced, so you can work out the value per point yourself rather than take my word for it. I do not post redemptions I have not flown.
How I make money
Three ways, all of them visible. Some shopping portal and card links on this site are referral links, which pay me if you sign up through them. A paid call, where you bring a trip and we work through the options together. And a done for you booking service, which is not open yet.
What that money does not buy: a place in the rankings. The order of the cards on the earn page is the order I would actually put them in, and several of the warnings on this site cost me referral revenue to publish. The transfer bonus table is the clearest example. Most of those rows have a note underneath explaining why the bonus is worse than the headline, and none of them pay me anything either way.
What I won't do
I will never ask for your login details, card numbers or account numbers, and you should not give them to anyone who does. I will not push you toward a card to hit a bonus you do not need, and I will not tell you a redemption is good when the cash fare is cheaper. If the answer to your question is "pay cash for this one," that is the answer you will get.