I booked the following itinerary on the same PNR: LHR-AUH-MLE. All sectors EY operated.

I was booked on EY26 schedule to arrive in AUH at 06:45 in order to take EY260 schedule to depart AUH at 09:00 and arrive at MLE at 14:30.

EY26 arrived in AUH at 08:46 today (2 hours late) causing me to miss EY260 and be rebooked onto EY278 which is schedule to arrive at MLE at 05:10 the next day (14 hours 20 mins late). The reason for the delay was a technical fault with the aircraft, we pushed back returned to the gate and the problem was eventually fixed.

EC261 as transposed into UK law applies to all flights leaving the UK/EU even if operated by a non-EU/UK carrier like EY. The AUH-MLE segment is not operated by a UK/EU carrier and is not leaving the EU. Does this mean that I can�t claim EC261 compensation even though it a connecting flight where the booking originated from the UK? Is it the segment that counts or the booking for this part of the rule.

EY were very good organising a hotel with full board and transfer in Abu Dhabi even though this wasn�t an overnight delay however this has meant losing an expensive night in the Maldives. I paid the Maldives accommodation with points so I don�t think my Amex Platinum insurance will cover me for this so the EC261 �520 per person comp would be very much appreciated here indeed.

Does anyone have experience with EY handling such claims if I am eligible? I have Silver EY guest status if that counts for anything.

I�ve trawled through the flyertalk advice on this but most of it relates to BA so it won�t apply.

You can claim becuase your journey originated in the UK and you were delayed at your final destination.

From experience Etihad will make the process as difficult as possible for you. For me they dragged it out as long as they could but eventually accepted the EU/UK 261 rules and paid up.
I found the CAA website to be really helpful: https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Res...cancellations/

Did you have to escalate to CAA or did they eventually decide in your favour themselves?

Sadly I had to escalate this, but you have to give EY the opportunity to respond which takes weeks…
My experience was as follows:

I initially contacted EY by phone, email and then via their dreadful Feedback form soon after the delayed flight - MAN to AUH to ask them for compensation unerring UK261.
After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing getting nowhere I raised a case with the CAA.
8 weeks later I was able to escalated the case to the CAA Passenger Advice and Complaints Team.
The CAA then raised the issue directly with Etihad roughly 2 weeks later.
A further week later Etihad offered me the compensation due.

All in all about 3 months and EY only responded when the CAA Passenger Advice and Complaints Team got involved.

Good luck.