How to Survive Long-Haul Flights Follow these three rules to make your next trip as painless as possible.

Twelve hours out of Houston, I hit the wall. I'd eaten a four-course meal and drunk a bracing German Riesling. I'd listened to Tammy Wynette and been humiliated in video chess. I'd read the entirety of a slim novel, watched four episodes of The Office, slept nearly five hours and even managed to do some work. With two hours to go before landing in Doha, Qatar, I was ready for solid ground.

More of us are getting to know that feeling. Over the past decade, ultra-long-haul plane flights--those lasting more than 12 hours--have become a component of business life like never before. It used to be that only a diplomat or top executive would jump on a plane and set off for halfway around the world. Today--with markets such as China, India and the Middle East too large and lucrative to ignore--even small companies operate internationally.