my SO was almost always upgraded. He was home about 8 weeks of the year except for weekends as he was a real road warrior. However, like most business travellers, he wanted to spend most of his vacation and off time around the house "eating meatloaf" and seeing the kids.

I live in So. California so going to Europe is always a 24 hour thing.
All the tips above are good ones. The only things I can add are:
Bring earplugs that are made for take off and landings.
I don't sleep on the plane so I walk around, do seat exercises and read trashy novels. All good for passing the time.