Pan and Mayday are procedural calls which have the power to take away quite a bit of ambiguity in our complex operational environment. I remember a rather unfruitful discussion once with a controller regarding our diversion options after a weather go around, to such an extent that our fuel reserves became an issue. A subsequent PAN call (as prescribed in our manuals when fuel reserves are threatened) instantly ended the discussion from the controllers side and we were cleared to do whatever we needed.
Between us there were three different nationalities, multiple jurisdictions, none of us spoke our mother tongue, and I’m sure the controller was working within set constraints, but the PAN call set a process in motion which put the authority squarely where it needed to be.
PAN an MAYDAY are tools, use them to your advantage, once you can spare the brain capacity.