For a lot of these fares one has to think at least 6 months in advance and bear in mind that there will be costs involved in getting to and from the EU departure point. I us Avios if the departure and final destination in the EU are not the same. On these pages, I learned that ending in MAD was cheaper that returning to BUD (or wherever) - I use Avios to go to BUD and to return to NTE (nearest to where I live). Somtimes specials come along and you need to act quick as they'll be history in the blink of an eye.l