I was able to reproduce this glitch with the tp command in the overworld. View distance seemed to have something to do with it, since places I could tp to and still have them function with view distance at 9 wouldn't work at 2, and places that wouldn't work at 9 worked at 32.
EDIT: After further testing, teleporting to unloaded chunks while not having Elytra equipped and then equipping them after the tp still causes them not to function.
I was able to reproduce this glitch with the tp command in the overworld. View distance seemed to have something to do with it, since places I could tp to and still have them function with view distance at 9 wouldn't work at 2, and places that wouldn't work at 9 worked at 32.
EDIT: After further testing, teleporting to unloaded chunks while not having Elytra equipped and then equipping them after the tp still causes them not to function.