Going ahead at a lower altitude...
 

Hi and thanks in advance.

I wanted to get some feedback with regards to a flight I was following / tracking and appreciate any responses.

On a friends flight last week from SNA to IAH left the gate and had to return for a maint issue which delayed the flight by 1.5 hours. Plane was a 737-700 for what its worth.

While tracking the flight on multiple websites I noticed the cruise altitude when leveled off was 25,000 feet while all other planes on this route that day and the days before were typically in the 36-40,000 range.

My question is would there ever be a scenario where a plane was allowed to take off but needed to stay below a certain level for maint reasons?

I am guessing there is not but not sure what another reason would be unless its tracking was just inaccurate.

Thanks and good day.

Yes, sounds like maybe one of the two airconditioning packs may have been unserviceable, so it could have been despatched with one locked out. There are some faults in the Minimum Equipment List that restrict max altitude. It could have been it could get away with no slot delay if it went at a lower altitude. Not unusual.