Hi carpetbagger,
after we landed, the crew came to the transit area after closing up the plane. They briefed us that they have arranged for food to be catered from the Airport caterer. Which due to the large number can only be delivered 2 hours later. No hotel is arranged at that point as we need visas to enter Azerbaijian and it was the middle of the night for them. Following, the crew(as crew members, they do not need visas to enter the country ) went to hotel to rest. Their explanation was that they will be the same crew that will serve us during the replacement flight back to SG and they have to be rested for at least 10 hours before they can be on duty again(otherwise we will not be allowed to takeoff). Drinks are brought in from the flight, 2 crew members stayed behind to serve them and help any passengers. They remained there for about 8 hours. Afterwards, 2 more crew members from the hotel came to replace them. These 4 crew members was not on duty during the flight home to SG and was resting in empty suites cabin(). I felt that they deserve the rest.
Staff from Istanbul and Moscow were flown in to arrange flight details with the authorities. The explanation given to us was that there is a lot of paperwork to settle and the staff have to converse with the authorities in Russian. Azerbaijan staff were able to speak a small amount of english but maybe this is insufficient. (I'm just speaking from my experience)
as for the total delay. we landed at about 1 am local time and departed for Singapore 3 am local time. Boarding for the replacement flight started about 1 am for F and J passengers and completed by about 2 am. Afterwards it was just waiting for clearance for takeoffSo total we were in Baku for about 22 hours