Yeah I don't really see how it would ever work out as a pay raise unless you were really slacking as a CA and crushing it as a FO. I lanced for a while and that was a tie at best pay wise. Captain money is honestly stupid if you are budgeted for FO. I have relatively few expenses that aren't purely discretionary and even those are doable on FO pay. All that being said, the $/unit of effort at captain pay makes downgrading a tough pill to swallow unless you are being forced into the most heinous of Sully-esque commutes.