Curious how flyertalkers would handle the following situation:

You're travelling as part of a work group of 12 to Europe. All tickets are in coach but you have the miles to upgrade to business on a NW DC10 (sorry- can't change airline or plane type). If the rest of the group sits in coach (they either don't know or care about upgrading - go figure) would you be comfortable sitting up front while the rest sit in steerage? I'm afraid of alienating the rest of the group. Anyone been through this - how did you handle it and do you have any words of wisdom? Thanks!