Variations on a theme, but these work for me:

East Coast to Europe:
- Take a melatonin at about 7pm each night for 2 or 3 nights before the trip.
- (optional) Take a day flight to Europe. The best way to avoid debilitating jet lag, imho. Rather than having to deal with a 5/6hour change _and_ a crappy night's sleep, you're only dealing with one out of two.
- Overnight- go to sleep as quickly as possible. Skip meal service if you can.
- Stay up until at least 11pm at your local destination (once again easier if you took the day flight!). Get sunlight and be active during the day, if possible.

Europe to East Coast:
- Never had a problem- usually take flights arriving home in the evening, so going straight to sleep isn't a problem.

East Coast to/from Asia- only done it twice haven't worked out a system yet.

JFK to South America was great- overnight flights in both directions, only one hour's time change and long enough to get real sleep.