Is this really true that the 747 upper deck and 737-800/900 have non-plug type emergency exit doors?
That seems surprising. Plug type is such a nice engineering solution: open-able exactly when you want it to be, not when you don't.
Ok, maybe with the exception of not-depressurizing on the ground, a la Saudi. But still, the best engineering designs are those that passively give the results. Anything that needs active operation/sensors/logic always has extra failure modes.
I guess the plug door has issues in a next-to-seat exit, however I recall old safety cards that showed the over-wing door coming inside the plane and the passenger having to throw it out the window or the like. That looked like plug type operation.
I think a plug-type door that the passenger had to hold, for the 747, would be impossibly heavy.
On the 737-800 the wing exit change was required by the FAA to approve the increase in passenger capacity to ensure that evacuation could be fast enough, that's why it's a (gas, I presume) powered door and not a manually-removed plug door.