In a crisis people panic and miss deadlines that matter. A lost passport two days before a flight, a hacked business account, a layoff letter with a three day registration rule buried in it, an eviction notice with a tribunal deadline: each one comes with a clock most people never see until it has run out. The worst moment to research procedures is the moment you are frightened.
Closest: static help articles, embassy and government pages, platform help centres, and general AI chat that answers once and forgets. They explain, but they do not track your dates or stay with you. New: a plan built for your situation and country that persists, counts down every deadline, drafts every letter for your approval, checks public pages overnight, and stays with you until the problem is resolved.
Official procedures (embassy, labour, tenancy and platform recovery pages) indexed per country and re-checked on a schedule, plus the details of your case that you type or photograph (a notice, a letter, a booking). Deadlines are computed from the dates in your documents and the general rules for your country, and every rule shows its source and a "general information" label.
Nobody should face the worst week of their year alone with a search bar. Mayday gives everyone the calm, ordered help a well-connected friend with a lawyer, a consul and an IT person on speed dial would give, and it does not leave until the crisis is over.
Building a plan with document reading: $0.03 to $0.08. Each drafted letter: $0.01 to $0.02. Overnight checks for a week: about $0.10. A typical crisis from start to resolution costs $0.25 to $0.60 in models. Free: one active crisis plan with deadlines and letters. Paid ($4.99 per crisis, or $2.99 a month "always ready"): overnight checks, voice check-ins, family sharing. A solo builder can absorb free usage because crises are rare per user.
Plans are shared with a trusted person ("my sister can see my plan"), who sees how it works. After resolution, people share "Mayday got me home" stories, and diaspora, expat and small business groups pass the link around the moment someone posts "help, I lost my passport". After a crisis, the Readiness vault keeps people coming back: a monthly check on passport, visa, lease, insurance and licence dates raises a readiness score, and every renewal caught early is logged, so the vault gets more valuable and the next plan starts with everything ready.
People, offices and dates in this demo are fictional samples. General information, not legal advice.