This U.S. airline warns fuel costs, weather, and a tech outage derailed their quarterly performance

Tariff uncertainty caused most U.S. airlines to suspend or downgrade their guidance. Strong Q2 results brought their forecasts back to life. But one domestic player is now warning about a factor other than consumer confidence.

On Tuesday, Seattle-based Alaska Air Group ALK warned investors that its coming-quarter profits would be impacted by higher fuel costs and other "irregular operations." All of the factors mean that the company's quarterly profit will now land at the low end of the forecast band ($1 to $1.40 per share). Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for $1.35.

Chief among its problems were fuel. While Alaska expected to pay $2.45 per gallon, "ongoing refinery disruptions" pushed its average fuel price into a range of $2.50 to $2.55. Alaska already pays some of the highest fuel costs among domestic airlines, thanks to its west coast operations.

Downstream of fuel, the company said that it saw "increased costs from overtime, premium pay and passenger compensation" as a result of weather and air traffic control problems. The company also blamed an IT outage on Jul. 20, which grounded its nationwide fleet.

Without its various problems, Alaska would have flown along just fine in Q3. Its revenue per seat was higher than guidance, thanks to a greater emphasis on premium fares and an increase in premium travel. 

The company's first major push into international travel has also helped the airline, as well as the launch of the company's refreshed rewards program, Atmos Rewards, which has borne out positive results for the airline.

Still, Alaska's warning shows that even though consumers and businesses are still spending on travel, there are plenty of rough spots for airlines — both on the ground and in the sky. Alaska Air fell 6.6% on the day, making it the worst-performer in the Dow Jones Transportation Average.  The U.S. Global Jets ETF fell 0.96%.