Unless I get a good deal, most of my flights are in Y. The food is reasonable (particularly the curry) and at least on BA the crew are friendly. Having lounge access before definitely helps though.
It's really a matter of managing your expectations: I don't expect a lot and tend to just settle down for the trip (on the last trip the CSD (?) wanted to 'greet' me, but I slept virtually the whole 8 hours (UK-US) - he did so with 20 minutes to landing...).